\ 


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IN  OUR 
FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

MESSAGES  AND  ADDRESSES  TO 
THE  CONGRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE 
MARCH   5,   1917,  TO  APRIL  6,  1918 

BY 
WOODROW   WILSON 

PRESIDENT  OF   THE   UNITED   STATES 

NEW  AND   ENLARGED   EDITION 


Frontispiece  from  drawing  by 
WILFRID    MUIR    EVANS 


HARPER  i^  BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

NEW    YORK    AND     LONDON 


Kvv 

1IST,  1 


Books  by 
WOODROW   WILSON 

IN  OUR  FIRST   YEAR  OF  WAR 
WHY    WE    ARE    AT    WAR.     16mo 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

Profusely  illustrated.     5  volumes.     8vo 
Cloth 

Three-quarter  Calf 
Three-quarter  Levant 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON.    Illustrated.    8vo 
Popular  Edition 

WHEN  A  MAN  COMES  TO  HIMSELF. 
16mo.     Cloth.     Leather 

ON  BEING  HUMAN 

16mo.     Cloth.     Leather 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

16mo.     Cloth.     Leather 


HARPER  -&  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK 


ir.i^iOilVU 


CONTENTS 

chap.  page 

Introduction  to  New  and  Enlarged  Edition       v 

Foreword vii 

I.  The  Second  Inaugural  Address     ....        i 

{March  5,  191 7) 

II.  We  Must  Accept  War 9 

{Message  to  the  Congress^  April  2,  1917) 

III.  A  State  of  War 26 

{The  President's  Proclamation  of  April  6, 
1917) 

IV.  "Speak,  Act  and  Serve  Together"     ...      32 

{Message  to  the  American  People,  April  15 ^ 
1917) 

V.  The  Conscription  Proclamation    ....      40 

{May  18,  1917) 

VI.  Conserving  the  Nation's  Food       ....      49 

{May  19,  1917) 

VII.  An  Answer  to  Critics 54 

{May  22,  1917) 

VIII.  Memorial  Day  Address 56 

{May  JO,  1917) 

IX.  A  Statement  to  Russia 59 

{June  9,  1917) 

X.  Flag-day  Address 64 

{June  14,  1917) 

XI.  An  Appeal  to  the  Business  Interests        .      76 

{July  II,  1917) 


384016 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XII.  Reply  to  the  Pope 83 

(August  27,  ip/7) 

XIII.  A    Message    to    Teachers    and    School 

Officers 89 

{September  30,  1917) 

XIV.  Woman  Suffrage  Must  Come  Now      .    .      92 

{October  25,  1917) 

XV.  The  Thanksgiving  Day  Proclamation      .      96 

{November  7,  1917) 

XVI.  Labor  Must  Bear  Its  Part 99 

{November  12,  1917) 

XVII.  Address  to  the  Congress 112 

{December  4,  1917) 

XVIII.  Proclamation  of  War  Against  Austria- 

Hungary       130 

{December  12,  1917) 

XIX.  The  Government  Takes  Over  the  Rail- 

roads    134 

{A  Statement  by  the  President,  December 
26,  1917) 

XX.  Government  Operation  of  Railroads      .     143 

{Address  to  the  Congress,  January  4, 191 8) 

XXI.  The  Terms  of  Peace 150 

{January  8,  1918) 

XXII.  Four  Basic  Peace  Principles       ....     162 

{Address  to  the  Congress,  February  11, 
1918) 

XXIII.  "Force,  Force  to  the  Utmost"  ....     174 

{An  Address  Delivered  by  the  President 
at  Baltimore  on  the  Evening  of  April 
6,  1918,  on  the  Opening  of  the  Third 
Liberty  Loan  Campaign) 

Appendix 183 


INTRODUCTION  TO  NEW  AND 
ENLARGED  EDITION 

It  is  gratifying  in  a  sense  which  is  higher 
than  purely  practical  considerations  to  record 
the  immediate  welcome  given  to  this  volume. 
This  has  led  to  a  new  edition  at  a  very  early 
date.  It  has  been  possible  to  take  advantage 
of  this  and  to  add  two  addresses,  ' '  Four  Basic 
Peace  Principles,"  the  address  to  the  Congress 
of  February  ii,  19 18,  and  ''Force,  Force  to 
the  Utmost,"  the  address  delivered  at  Balti- 
more on  the  opening  of  the  Third  Liberty 
Loan  Campaign,  April  6,  1918.  The  present 
volume,  therefore,  contains  all  the  important 
addresses  of  the  first  year  of  our  righteous 
war  for  liberty. 

On  April  14th  the  New  York  Sun  in  its 
interesting  Book  Section  presented  a  remark- 
able symposium  offering  the  opinions  of  dis- 
tinguished men  and  women  of  letters  as  to 
**The  new  book  that  interested  me  most." 

With  his  customary  felicity  of  phrase,  that 
incisive  and   brilliant   essayist   and   novelist, 


INTRODUCTION 

Meredith  Nicholson,  uttered  his  decision  in 
these  words: 

To  name  the  best  book  of  a  given  period  is  a  serious 
matter.  In  these  iron  years  imaginative  Hterature  is 
bound  to  suffer.  There  have  been  good  novels  in  the 
past  twelve  months,  but  none  that  may  be  classed  with 
the  books  of  all  time.  There  have  been  good  poems,  but 
no  single  poem  has  sprung  to  the  front  rank.  There 
have  been  admirable  essays,  but  this  department  has 
not  been  greatly  enriched  by  the  addition  of  volumes 
that  will  carry  far  into  the  future.  And  we  are  making 
history,  not  writing  it. 

Great  novels  and  great  verse  interpreting  these  clang- 
ing times  must  wait  a  little.  In  scanning  the  shelf  of 
newest  books  for  a  candidate  for  immortality  my  eye_ 
falls  upon  one  volume  that  will,  I  believe,  outlive  every 
other  book  of  the  past  year.  Its  literary  merit  is  the 
highest;  it  is  addressed  to  the  minds  and  the  consciences 
not  only  of  the  American  people  but  of  every  civilized 
man  and  woman  on  the  globe. 

There  is  no  savage  in  the  utmost  island  of  the  farthest 
sea  but  is  in  some  manner  affected  by  the  book  that  lies 
open  before  me.  Here  we  have  in  every  sense  a  piece  of 
world  literature,  the  production,  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances,  of  an  American  scholar,  patriot,  and 
statesman.  Here  we  have  democracy  interpreted  for 
all  the  children  of  men,  and  between  the  covers  of  this 
book  there  are  phrases  that  are  already  indehbly  written 
"in  the  very  alphabet  of  memory." 

The  book  I  refer  to  is  In  Our  First  Year  of  War  (Har- 
pers), a  volume  of  messages  and  addresses  to  the  Amer- 
ican Congress  and  the  people,  and  the  author  is  Wood- 
row  Wilson,  sometime  president  of  Princeton  University 
and  now,  by  the  grace  of  God,  President  of  the  United 
States. 


FOREWORD 

This  book  opens  with  the  second  inaugural 
address  and  contains  the  President's  messages 
and  addresses  since  the  United  States  was 
forced  to  take  up  arms  against  Germany. 
These  pages  may  be  said  to  picture  not  only 
official  phases  of  the  great  crisis,  but  also  the 
highest  significance  of  liberty  and  democracy 
and  the  reactions  of  President  and  people  to 
the  great  developments  of  the  times.  The 
second  Inaugural  Address  with  its  sense  of 
solemn  responsibility  serves  as  a  prophecy  as 
well  as  prelude  to  the  declaration  of  war  and 
the  message  to  the  people  which  followed  so 
soon. 

The  extracts  from  the  Conscription  Procla- 
mation, the  messages  on  Conservation  and  the 
Fixing  of  Prices,  the  Appeal  to  Business  In- 
terests, the  Address  to  the  Federation  of  Labor 
and  the  Railroad  messages  present  the  solid 
every-day  realities  and  the  vast  responsibili- 
ties of  war-time  as  they  affect  every  Amer- 
ican. These  are  concrete  messages  which 
should  be  at  hand  for  frequent  reference, 
just  as  the  uplift   and  inspiration    of  lofty 


FOREWORD 

appeals  like  the  Memorial  Day  and  Flag  Day 
addresses  should  be  a  constant  source  of  in- 
spiration. There  are  also  the  clarifying  and 
vigorous  definitions  of  American  purpose  af- 
forded in  utterances  like  the  statement  to 
Russia,  the  reply  to  the  communication  of 
the  Pope,  and,  most  emphatically,  the  Presi- 
dent's restatement  of  War  Aims  on  January 
8th.  These  and  other  state  papers  from  the 
early  spring  of  191 7  to  January,  19 18,  have 
a  significance  and  value  in  this  collected  form 
which  has  been  attested  by  the  many  re- 
quests that  have  come  to  Harper  &  Brothers, 
as  President  Wilson's  publishers,  for  a  war  vol- 
ume of  the  President's  messages  to  follow  Why 
We  Are  At  War. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  President  has  been 
consulted  in  regard  to  the  plan  of  publication, 
and  the  conditions  which  he  requested  have 
been  observed.  For  title,  arrangement,  head- 
ings, and  like  details  the  publishers  are  respon- 
sible. They  have  held  the  publication  of  the 
President's  words  of  enlightenment  and  inspi- 
ration to  be  a  public  service.  And  they  think 
that  there  is  no  impropriety  in  adding  that  in 
the  case  of  this  book,  and  Why  We  Are  At 
War]  the  American  Red  Cross  receives  all 
author's  royalties. 

In  the  case  of  the  former  book  the  evolution 
of  events  which  led  to  war  was  illustrated  in 
messages  from  January  to  April  15th.    In  the 


FOREWORD 

preparation  of  this  book,  which  begins  with  the 
second  inaugural,  it  has  seemed  desirable  to 
present  practically  all  the  messages  of  war- 
time, and  therefore  three  papers  are  included 
which  appeared  in  the  former  and  smaller  book, 
in  addition  to  the  eighteen  messages  and 
addresses  which  have  been  collected  for  this 
volume. 


IN   OUR   FIRST  YEAR 
OF   WAR 


IN    OUR   FIRST   YEAR 
OF   WAR 


THE  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 
{March  5, 191T) 

My  Fellow-citizens, — The  four  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  last  I  stood  in  this 
place  have  been  crowded  with  counsel  and 
action  of  the  most  vital  interest  and  conse- 
quence. Perhaps  no  equal  period  in  our  his- 
tory has  been  so  fruitful  of  important  reforms 
in  our  economic  and  industrial  life  or  so  full 
of  significant  changes  in  the  spirit  and  purpose 
of  our  political  action.  We  have  sought  very 
thoughtfully  to  set  our  house  in  order,  correct 
the  grosser  errors  and  abuses  of  our  industrial 
life,  liberate  and  quicken  the  processes  of  our 
national  genius  and  energy,  and  lift  our  politics 
to  a  broader  view  of  the  people's  essential  in- 
terests.    It  is  a  record  of  singular  variety  and 


f;^iVi3N  'QUR/FIKST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

singular  distinction.  But  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  review  it.  It  speaks  for  itself  and  will  be  of 
increasing  influence  as  the  years  go  by.  This 
is  not  the  time  for  retrospect.  It  is  time, 
rather,  to  speak  our  thoughts  and  purposes 
concerning  the  present  and  the  immediate 
future. 

A   COSMOPOLITAN   EPOCH   AT  HAND 

Although  we  have  centered  counsel  and 
action  with  such  unusual  concentration  and 
success  upon  the  great  problems  of  domestic 
legislation  to  which  we  addressed  ourselves 
four  years  ago,  other  matters  have  more  and 
more  forced  themselves  upon  our  attention, 
matters  lying  outside  our  own  life  as  a  nation 
and  over  which  we  had  no  control,  but  which, 
despite  our  wish  to  keep  free  of  them,  have 
drawn  us  more  and  more  irresistibly  into  their 
own  current  and  influence. 

It  has  been  impossible  to  avoid  them.  They 
have  affected  the  life  of  the  whole  world. 
They  have  shaken  men  everywhere  with  a  pas- 
sion and  an  apprehension  they  never  knew 
before.  It  has  been  hard  to  preserve  calm 
counsel  while  the  thought  of  our  own  people 
swayed  this  way  and  that  under  their  influence. 
We  are  a  composite  and  cosmopolitan  people. 
We  are  of  the  blood  of  all  the  nations  that 
are  at  war.  The  currents  of  our  thoughts  as 
well  as  the  currents  of  our  trade  run  quick  at 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR        3 

all  seasons  back  and  forth  between  us  and 
them.  The  war  inevitably  set  its  mark  from 
the  first  alike  upon  our  minds,  our  industries, 
our  commerce,  our  politics,  and  our  social 
action.  To  be  indifferent  to  it  or  independent 
of  it  was  out  of  the  question. 

And  yet  all  the  while  we  have  been  conscious 
that  we  were  not  part  of  it.  In  that  con- 
sciousness, despite  many  divisions,  we  have 
drawn  closer  together.  We  have  been  deeply 
wronged  upon  the  seas,  but  we  have  not 
wished  to  wrong  or  injure  in  return;,  have  re- 
tained throughout  the  consciousness  of  stand- 
ing in  some  sort  apart,  intent  upon  an  interest 
that  transcended  the  immediate  issues  of  the 
war  itself.  As  some  of  the  injuries  done  us 
have  become  intolerable,  we  have  still  been 
clear  that  we  wished  nothing  for  ourselves 
that  we  were  not  ready  to  demand  for  all 
mankind, — ^fair  dealing,  justice,  the  freedom  to 
live  and  be  at  ease  against  organized  wrong. 

It  is  in  this  spirit  and  with  this  thought  that 
we  have  grown  more  and  more  aware,  more 
and  more  certain  that  the  part  we  wished  to 
play  was  the  part  of  those  who  mean  to  vin- 
dicate and  fortify  peace.  We  have  been 
obliged  to  arm  ourselves  to  make  good  our 
claim  to  a  certain  minimum  of  right  and  of 
freedom  of  action.  We  stand  firm  in  armed 
neutrality  since  it  seems  that  in  no  other  way 
we  can  demonstrate  what  it  is  we  insist  upon 


4        IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

and  cannot  forego.  We  may  even  be  drawn 
on,  by  circumstances,  not  by  our  own  pur- 
pose or  desire,  to  a  more  active  assertion  of 
our  rights  as  we  see  them  and  a  more  imme- 
diate association  with  the  great  struggle  itself. 
But  nothing  will  alter  our  thought  or  our 
purpose.  They  are  too  clear  to  be  obscured. 
They  are  too  deeply  rooted  in  the  principles 
of  our  national  life  to  be  altered.  We  desire 
neither  conquest  nor  advantage.  We  wish 
nothing  that  can  be  had  only  at  the  cost  of 
another  people.  We  have  always  professed  un- 
selfish purpose  and  we  covet  the  opportunity 
to  prove  that  our  professions  are  sincere. 

THE    SPIRIT   OF   CO-OPERATION 

There  are  many  things  still  to  do  at  home, 
to  clarify  our  own  politics  and  give  new  vi- 
tality to  the  industrial  processes  of  our  own 
life,  and  we  shall  do  them  as  time  and  oppor- 
tunity serve;  but  we  realize  that  the  greatest 
things  that  remain  to  be  done  must  be  done 
with  the  whole  world  for  stage  and  in  co- 
operation with  the  wide  and  universal  forces 
of  mankind,  and  we  are  making  our  spirits 
ready  for  those  things.  They  will  follow  in 
the  immediate  wake  of  the  war  itself  and  will 
set  civilization  up  again.  We  are  provincials 
no  longer.  The  tragical  events  of  the  thirty 
months  of  vital  turmoil  through  which  we 
have  just  passed  have  made  us  citizens  of  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR        5 

world.  There  can  be  no  turning  back.  Our 
own  fortunes  as  a  nation  are  involved,  whether 
we  would  have  it  so  or  not. 

And  yet  we  are  not  the  less  Americans  on 
that  account.  We  shall  be  the  more  American 
if  we  but  remain  true  to  the  principles  in  which 
we  have  been  bred.  They  are  not  the  prin- 
ciples of  a  province  or  of  a  single  continent. 
We  have  known  and  boasted  all  along  that 
they  were  the  principles  of  a  liberated  man- 
kind. These,  therefore,  are  the  things  we 
shall  stand  for,  whether  in  war  or  in  peace : 

OUR   NATIONAL   PLATFORM 

That  all  nations  are  equally  interested  in  the 
peace  of  the  world  and  in  the  political  stability 
of  free  peoples,  and  equally  responsible  for 
their  maintenance; 

That  the  essential  principle  of  peace  is  the 
actual  equality  of  nations  in  all  matters  of 
right  or  privilege; 

That  peace  cannot  securely  or  justly  rest 
upon  an  armed  balance  of  power; 

That  Governments  derive  all  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed  and 
that  no  other  powers  should  be  supported  by 
the  common  thought,  purpose  or  power  of  the 
family  of  nations; 

That  the  seas  should  be  equally  free  and 
safe  for  the  use  of  all  peoples,  under  rules  set 
up  by  common  agreement  and  consent,  and 


6        IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

that,  so  far  as  practicable,  they  should  be  ac- 
cessible to  all  upon  equal  terms; 

That  national  armaments  should  be  limited 
to  the  necessities  of  national  order  and  domes- 
tic safety; 

That  the  community  of  interest  and  of  power 
upon  which  peace  must  henceforth  depend  im- 
poses upon  each  nation  the  duty  of  seeing  to 
it  that  all  influences  proceeding  from  its  own 
citizens  meant  to  encourage  or  assist  revolu- 
tion in  other  states  should  be  sternly  and 
effectually  suppressed  and  prevented. 

A   UNITY    OF   PURPOSE   AND    ACTION 

I  need  not  argue  these  principles  to  you,  my 
fellow-countrymen:  they  are  your  own,  part 
and  parcel  of  your  own  thinking  and  your  own 
motive  in  affairs.  They  spring  up  native 
amongst  us.  Upon  this  as  a  platform  of  pur- 
pose and  of  action  we  can  stand  together. 

And  it  is  imperative  that  we  should  stand 
together.  We  are  being  forged  into  a  new 
unity  amidst  the  fires  that  now  blaze  through- 
out the  world.  In  their  ardent  heat  we  shall, 
in  God's  providence,  let  us  hope,  be  purged  of 
faction  and  division,  purified  of  the  errant 
humors  of  party  and  of  private  interest,  and 
shall  stand  forth  in  the  days  to  come  with  a 
new  dignity  of  national  pride  and  spirit.  Let 
each  man  see  to  it  that  the  dedication  is  in 
his  own  heart,  the  high  purpose  of  the  nation 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR        7 

in  his  own  mind,  ruler  of  his  own  will  and 
desire. 

I  stand  here  and  have  taken  the  high  and 
solemn  oath  to  which  you  have  been  audience 
because  the  people  of  the  United  States  have 
chosen  me  for  this  august  delegation  of  power 
and  have  by  their  gracious  judgment  named 
me  their  leader  in  affairs.  I  know  now  what 
the  task  means.  I  realize  to  the  full  the  re- 
sponsibility which  it  involves.  I  pray  God  I 
may  be  given  the  wisdom  and  the  prudence 
to  do  my  duty  in  the  true  spirit  of  this  great 
people.  I  am  their  servant  and  can  succeed 
only  as  they  sustain  and  guide  me  by  their 
confidence  and  their  counsel.  The  thing  I 
shall  count  upon,  the  thing  without  which 
neither  counsel  nor  action  will  avail,  is  the 
unity  of  America — an  America  united  in  feel- 
ing, in  purpose,  and  in  its  vision  of  duty,  of 
opportunity,  and  of  service.  We  are  to  beware 
of  all  men  who  would  turn  the  tasks  and  the 
necessities  of  the  nation  to  their  own  private 
profit  or  use  them  for  the  building  up  of  private 
power;  beware  that  no  faction  or  disloyal 
intrigue  break  the  harmony  or  embarrass  the 
spirit  of  our  people ;  beware  that  our  Govern- 
ment be  kept  pure  and  incorrupt  in  all  its 
parts.  United  alike  in  the  conception  of  otir 
duty  and  in  the  high  resolve  to  perform  it  in 
the  face  of  all  men,  let  us  dedicate  ourselves 

to  the  great  task  to  which  we  must  now  set  our 
2 


8        IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

hand.  For  myself  I  beg  your  tolerance,  your 
countenance,  and  your  united  aid.  The  shad- 
ows that  now  lie  dark  upon  our  path  will  soon 
be  dispelled  and  we  shall  walk  with  the  light 
all  about  us  if  we  be  but  true  to  ourselves — 
to  ourselves  as  we  have  wished  to  be  known  in 
the  counsels  of  the  world  a'nd  in  the  thought 
of  all  those  who  love  liberty  and  justice  and 
the  right  exalted. 


II 


WE  MUST  ACCEPT  WAR 
(Message  to  the  Congress,  April  2,  igij) 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress, — I  have 
called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary  session 
because  there  are  serious,  very  serious,  choices 
of  policy  to  be  made,  and  made  immediately, 
which  it  was  neither  right  nor  constitution- 
ally permissible  that  I  should  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility of  maldng. 

On  the  3d  of  February  last  I  officially  laid 
before  you  the  extraordinary  announcement  of 
the  Imperial  German  Government  that  on 
and  after  the  first  day  of  February  it  was  its 
purpose  to  put  aside  all  restraints  of  law  or  of 
humanity  and  use  its  submarines  to  sink  every 
vessel  that  sought  to  approach  either  the  ports 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  or  the  western 
coasts  of  Europe  or  any  of  the  ports  controlled 
by  the  enemies  of  Germany  within  the  Med- 
iterranean. That  had  seemed  to  be  the  object 
of  the  German  submarine  warfare  earlier  in  the 
war,  but  since  April  of  last  year  the  Imperial 
Government    had    somewhat    restrained    the 


10      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

commanders  of  its  undersea  craft  in  conformity 
with  its  promise  then  given  to  us  that  passen- 
ger-boats should  not  be  sunk,  and  that  due 
warning  would  be  given  to  all  other  vessels 
which  its  submarines  might  seek  to  destroy- 
when  no  resistance  was  offered  or  escape  at- 
tempted, and  care  taken  that  their  crews  were 
given  at  least  a  fair  chance  to  save  their  lives 
in  their  open  boats. 

The  precautions  taken  were  meager  and  hap- 
hazard enough,  as  was  proved  in  distressing 
instance  after  instance  in  the  progress  of  the 
cruel  and  unmanly  business,  but  a  certain 
degree  of  restraint  was  observed. 

Germany's  ruthless  policy 

The  new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction 
aside.  Vessels  of  every  kind,  whatever  their 
flag,  their  character,  their  cargo,  their  destina- 
tion, their  errand,  have  been  ruthlessly  sent  to 
the  bottom  without  warning,  and  without 
thought  of  help  or  mercy  for  those  on  board, 
the  vessels  of  friendly  neutrals  along  with  those 
of  belHgerents.  Even  hospital-ships  and  ships 
carrying  relief  to  the  sorely  bereaved  and 
stricken  people  of  Belgium,  though  the  latter 
were  provided  with  safe  conduct  through  the 
proscribed  areas  by  the  German  Government 
itself  and  were  distinguished  by  unmistakable 
marks  of  identity,  have  been  sunk  with  the 
same  reckless  lack  of  compassion  or  of  principle. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      ii 

I  was  for  a  little  while  unable  to  believe  that 
such  things  would,  in  fact,  be  done  by  any 
Government  that  had  hitherto  subscribed  to 
the  humane  practices  of  civilized  nations. 
International  law  had  its  origin  in  the  attempt 
to  set  up  some  law  which  would  be  respected 
and  observed  upon  the  seas,  where  no  nation 
had  right  of  dominion,  and  where  lay  the 
free  highways  of  the  world.  By  painful 
stage  after  stage  has  that  law  been  built  up 
with  meager  enough  results,  indeed,  after  all 
was  accomplished  that  could  be  accom- 
plished, but  always  with  a  clear  view  at 
least  of  what  the  heart  and  conscience  of 
mankind  demanded. 

This  minimum  of  right  the  German  Govern- 
ment has  swept  aside  under  the  plea  of  retalia- 
tion and  necessity,  and  because  it  had  no 
weapons  which  it  could  use  at  sea  except  these, 
which  it  is  impossible  to  employ  as  it  is  em- 
ploying them  without  throwing  to  the  winds 
all  scruples  of  humanity  or  of  respect  for  the 
understandings  that  were  supposed  to  underlie 
the  intercourse  of  the  world. 

I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the  loss  of  property 
involved,  immense  and  serious  as  that  is,  but 
only  of  the  wanton  and  wholesale  destruction 
of  the  lives  of  non-combatants,  men,  women 
and  children  engaged  in  pursuits  which  have 
always,  even  in  the  darkest  periods  of  modern 
history,  been  deemed  innocent  and  legitimate. 


12      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

Property  can  be  paid  for ;  the  lives  of  peace- 
ful and  innocent  people  cannot  be. 

GERMAN   WARFARE    AGAINST   MANKIND 

The  present  German  warfare  against  com- 
merce is  a  warfare  against  mankind.  It  is  a 
war  against  all  nations.  American  ships  have 
been  sunk,  American  lives  taken,  in  ways  which 
it  has  stirred  us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but 
the  ships  and  people  of  other  neutral  and 
friendly  nations  have  been  sunk  and  over- 
whelmed in  the  waters  in  the  same  way.  There 
has  been  no  discrimination.  The  challenge  is 
to  all  manldnd.  Each  nation  must  decide 
for  itself  how  it  will  meet  it.  The  choice 
we  make  for  ourselves  must  be  made  with 
a  moderation  of  counsel  and  a  temperateness 
of  judgment  befitting  our  character  and  our 
motives  as  a  nation.  We  must  put  excited 
feeling  away. 

Our  motive  will  not  be  revenge  or  the  vic- 
torious assertion  of  the  physical  might  of  the 
nation,  but  only  the  vindication  of  right,  of 
human  right,  of  which  we  are  only  a  single 
champion. 

When  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the 
26th  of  February  last  I  thought  that  it  would 
suffice  to  assert  our  neutral  rights  with  arms, 
our  right  to  use  the  seas  against  unlawful 
interference,  our  right  to  keep  our  people  safe 
against  unlawful  violence.    But  armed  neu- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       13 

trality,  it  now  appears,  is  impracticable.  Be- 
cause submarines  are  in  effect  outlaws  when 
used  as  the  German  submarines  have  been 
used  against  merchant  shipping,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  defend  ships  against  their  attacks  as  the 
law  of  nations  has  assumed  that  merchantmen 
would  defend  themselves  against  privateers  or 
cruisers,  visible  craft  giving  chase  upon  the 
open  sea. 

It  is  common  prudence  in  such  circum- 
stances, grim  necessity,  indeed,  to  endeavor  to 
destroy  them  before  they  have  shown  their 
own  intention.  They  must  be  dealt  with  upon 
sight,  if  dealt  with  at  all. 

The  German  Government  denies  the  right 
of  neutrals  to  use  arms  at  all  within  the  areas 
of  the  sea  which  it  has  proscribed,  even  in  the 
defense  of  rights  which  no  modem  publicist 
has  ever  before  questioned  their  right  to  de- 
fend. The  intimation  is  conveyed  that  the 
armed  guards  which  we  have  placed  on  our 
merchant-ships  will  be  treated  as  beyond  the 
pale  of  law  and  subject  to  be  dealt  with  as 
pirates  would  be. 

Armed  neutrality  is  ineffectual  enough  at 
best ;  in  such  circumstances  and  in  the  face  of 
such  pretensions  it  is  worse  than  ineffectual; 
it  is  likely  to  produce  what  it  was  meant  to 
prevent;  it  is  practically  certain  to  draw  us 
into  the  war  without  either  the  rights  or  the 
effectiveness  of  belligerents. 


14      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

There  is  one  choice  we  cannot  make,  we  are 
incapable  of  making:  we  will  not  choose  the 
path  of  submission  and  suffer  the  most  sacred 
rights  of  our  nation  and  our  people  to  be  ig- 
nored or  violated.  The  wrongs  against  which 
we  now  array  ourselves  are  not  common 
wrongs;  they  reach  out  to  the  very  roots  of 
human  life. 

BELLIGERENCY  THRUST  UPON  US 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and 
even  tragical  character  of  the  step  I  am  taking 
and  of  the  grave  responsibilities  which  it  in- 
volves, but  in  unhesitating  obedience  to  what 
I  deem  my  constitutional  duty,  I  advise  that 
the  Congress  declare  the  recent  course  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government  to  be  in  fact 
nothing  less  than  war  against  the  Government 
and  people  of  the  United  States.  That  it 
formally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent  which 
has  thus  been  thrust  upon  it  and  that  it  take 
immediate  steps  not  only  to  put  the  country 
in  a  more  thorough  state  of  defense,  but  also 
to  exert  all  its  power  and  employ  all  its  re- 
sources to  bring  the  Government  of  the  Ger- 
i^an  Empire  to  terms  and  end  the  war. 

WHAT   THIS   WILL   INVOLVE 

What  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  in- 
volve the  utmost  practicable  co-operation  in 
counsel  and  action  with  the  Governments  now 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       15 

at  war  with  Germany,  and  as  incident  to  that 
the  extension  to  those  Governments  of  the 
most  Hberal  financial  credits  in  order  that  our 
resources  may  so  far  as  possible  be  added  to 
theirs. 

It  will  involve  the  organization  and  mobili- 
zation of  all  the  material  resources  of  the 
country  to  supply  the  materials  of  war  and 
serve  the  incidental  needs  of  the  nation  in  the 
most  abundant  and  yet  the  most  economical 
and  efficient  way  possible. 

It  will  involve  the  immediate  full  equipment 
of  the  navy  in  all  respects,  but  particularly  in 
supplying  it  with  the  best  means  of  dealing 
with  the  enemy's  submarines. 

It  will  involve  the  immediate  addition  to  the 
armed  forces  of  the  United  States  already  pro- 
vided for  by  law  in  case  of  war  at  least  500,000 
men,  who  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  chosen 
upon  the  principle  of  universal  liability  to 
service,  and  also  the  authorization  of  sub- 
sequent additional  increments  of  equal  force 
so  soon  as  they  may  be  needed  and  can  be 
handled  in  training. 

It  will  involve  also,  of  course,  the  granting 
of  adequate  credits  to  the  Government,  sus- 
tained, I  hope,  so  far  as  they  can  equitably  be 
sustained  by  the  present  generation,  by  well- 
conceived  taxation.  I  say  sustained  so  far  as 
may  be  equitable  by  taxation  because  it  seems 
to  me  that  it  would  be  most  unwise  to  base 


i6      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

the  credits  which  will 'now  be  necessary  en- 
tirely on  money  borrowed. 

It  is  our  duty,  I  most  respectfully  urge, 
to  protect  our  people  so  far  as  we  may 
against  the  very  serious  hardships  and  evils 
which  would  be  likely  to  arise  out  of  the 
inflation  which  would  be  produced  by  vast 
loans. 

In  carrying  out  the  measures  by  which  these 
things  are  to  be  accomplished  we  should  keep 
constantly  in  mind  the  wisdom  of  interfering 
as  little  as  possible  in  our  own  preparation 
and  in  the  equipment  of  our  own  military 
forces  with  the  duty — for  it  will  be  a  very 
practical  duty  —  of  supplying  the  nations 
already  at  war  with  Germany  with  the 
materials  which  they  can  obtain  only  from 
us  or  by  our  assistance.  They  are  in  the 
field  and  we  should  help  them  in  every  way 
to  be  effective  there. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting,  through 
the  several  executive  departments  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, for  the  consideration  of  your  com- 
mittees measures  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  several  objects  I  have  mentioned.  I  hope 
that  it  will  be  your  pleasure  to  deal  with  them 
as  having  been  framed  after  very  careful 
thought  by  the  branch  of  the  Government 
upon  which  the  responsibility  of  conducting 
the  war  and  safeguarding  the  nation  will  most 
directly  fall. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       17 

OUR   MOTIVES   AND   OBJECTS 

While  we  do  these  things,  these  deeply  mo- 
mentous things,  let  us  be  very  clear  and  make 
very  clear  to  all  the  world  what  our  motives 
and  our  objects  are.  My  own  thought  has 
not  been  driven  from  its  habitual  and  normal 
course  by  the  unhappy  events  of  the  last  two 
months,  and  I  do  not  beHeve  that  the  thought 
of  the  nation  has  been  altered  or  clouded  by 
them. 

I  have  exactly  the  same  thing  in  mind  now 
that  I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Senate 
on  the  2 2d  of  January  last;  the  same  that  I 
had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Congress 
on  the  3d  of  February  and  on  the  26th  of 
February. 

Our  object  now,  as  then,  is  to  vindicate 
the  principles  of  peace  and  justice  in  the  life 
of  the  world  as  against  selfish  and  autocratic 
power  and  to  set  up  amongst  the  really  free  and 
self -governed  peoples  of  the  world  such  a  con- 
cert of  purpose  and  of  action  as  will  henceforth 
insure  the  observance  of  those  principles. 

Neutrality  is  no  longer  feasible  or  desirable 
where  the  peace  of  the  world  is  involved  and 
the  freedom  of  its  peoples,  and  the  menace  to 
that  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  existence 
of  autocratic  Governments  backed  by  organ- 
ized force  which  is  controlled  wholly  by  their 
will,  not  by  the  will  of  their  people.    We  have 


i8      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

seen  the  last  of  neutrality  in  such  circum- 
stances. 

We  are  at  the  beginning  of  an  age  in  which 
it  will  be  insisted  that  the  same  standards  of 
conduct  and  of  responsibility  for  wrong  done 
shall  be  observed  among  nations  and  their 
Governments  that  are  observed  among  the 
individual  citizens  of  civilized  states. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  peo- 
ple. We  have  no  feeling  toward  them  but  one 
of  sympathy  and  friendship.  It  was  not  upon 
their  impulse  that  their  Government  acted  in 
entering  this  war.  It  was  not  with  their  pre- 
vious knowledge  or  approval. 

It  was  a  war  determined  upon  as  wars  used 
to  be  determined  upon  in  the  old,  unhappy 
days  when  peoples  were  nowhere  consulted 
by  their  rulers  and  wars  were  provoked  and 
waged  in  the  interest  of  dynasties  or  of  little 
groups  of  ambitious  men  who  were  accus- 
tomed to  use  their  fellow  -  men  as  pawns  and 
tools. 

Self -governed  nations  do  not  fill  their  neigh- 
bor states  with  spies  or  set  the  course  of 
intrigue  to  bring  about  some  critical  post- 
ure of  affairs  which  will  give  them  an  op- 
portunity to  strike  and  make  conquest.  Such 
designs  can  be  successfully  worked  only  under 
cover  and  where  no  one  has  the  right  to  ask 
questions. 

Cunningly  contrived  plans  of  deception  or 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       19 

aggression,  carried,  it  may  be,  from  generation 
to  generation,  can  be  worked  out  and  kept 
from  the  light  only  within  the  privacy  of 
courts  or  behind  the  carefully  guarded  con- 
fidences of  a  narrow  and  privileged  class.  They 
are  happily  impossible  where  public  opinion 
commands  and  insists  upon  full  information 
concerning  all  the  nation's  affairs. 

PEACE   THROUGH   FREE   PEOPLES 

A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be 
maintained  except  by  a  partnership  of  demo- 
cratic nations.  Nq  [autocratic  Government 
could  be  trusted  to  keep  faith  within  it  or  ob- 
serve its  covenants.  It  must  be  a  league  of 
honor,  a  partnership  of  opinion.  Intrigue 
would  eat  its  vitals  away,  the  plottings  of  inner 
circles  who  could  plan  what  they  would  and 
render  account  to  no  one  would  be  a  corruption 
seated  at  its  very  heart.  Only  free  peoples  can 
hold  their  purpose  and  their  honor  steady  to  a 
common  end  and  prefer  the  interests  of  man- 
kind to  any  narrow  interest  of  their  own. 

Does  not  every  American  feel  that  assur- 
ance has  been  added  to  our  hope  for  the  future 
peace  of  the  world  by  the  wonderful  and  heart- 
ening things  that  have  been  happening  within 
the  last  few  weeks  in  Russia? 

Russia  was  known  by  those  who  know  it 
best  to  have  been  always  in  fact  democratic 
at  heart,  in  all  the  vital  habits  of  her  thought, 


20      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

in  all  the  intimate  relationships  of  her  people 
that  spoke  their  natural  instinct,  their  habitual 
attitude  toward  life. 

Autocracy  that  crowned  the  summit  of  her 
political  structure,  long  as  it  had  stood  and 
terrible  as  was  the  reality  of  its  power,  was 
not  in  fact  Russian  in  origin,  in  character  or 
purpose ;  and  now  it  has  been  shaken  and  the 
great,  generous  Russian  people  have  been 
added,  in  all  their  native  majesty  and  might, 
to  the  forces  that  are  fighting  for  freedom  in 
the  world,  for  justice  and  for  peace.  Here  is 
a  fit  partner  for  a  league  of  honor. 

One  of  the  things  that  have  served  to  con- 
vince us  that  the  Prussian  autocracy  was  not 
and  could  never  be  our  friend  is  that  from  the 
very  outset  of  the  present  war  it  has  filled  our 
unsuspecting  communities  and  even  our  offices 
of  Government  with  spies  and  set  criminal 
intrigues  everywhere  afoot  against  our  na- 
tional unity  of  council,  our  peace  within  and 
without,  our  industries  and  our  commerce. 

Indeed,  it  is  now  evident  that  its  spies  were 
here  even  before  the  war  began,  and  it  is,  un- 
happily, not  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  a  fact 
proved  in  our  courts  of  justice,  that  the  in- 
trigues which  have  more  than  once  come  per- 
ilously near  to  disturbing  the  peace  and  dislo- 
cating the  industries  of  the  country  have  been 
carried  on  at  the  instigation,  with  the  support, 
and  even  under  the  personal  direction,  of  offi- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      21 

cial  agents  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment accredited  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States. 

Even  in  checking  these  things  and  trying  to 
extirpate  them  we  have  sought  to  put  the  most 
generous  interpretation  possible  upon  them 
because  we  knew  that  their  source  lay,  not  in 
any  hostile  feeling  or  purpose  of  the  German 
people  toward  us  (who  were,  no  doubt,  as 
ignorant  of  them  as  we  ourselves  were),  but 
only  in  the  selfish  designs  of  a  Government 
that  did  what  it  pleased  and  told  its  people 
nothing.  But  they  have  played  their  part  in 
serving  to  convince  us  at  last  that  that  Govern- 
ment entertains  no  real  friendship  for  us  and 
means  to  act  against  our  peace  and  security  at 
its  convenience.  That  it  means  to  stir  up 
enemies  against  us  at  our  very  doors  the  inter- 
cepted note  to  the  German  Minister  at  Mexico 
City  is  eloquent  evidence. 

A   CHALLENGE    OF   HOSTILE   PURPOSE 

We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile 
purpose  because  we  know  that  in  such  a  Gov- 
ernment, following  such  methods,  we  can  never 
have  a  friend;  and  that  in  the  presence  of  its 
organized  power,  always  lying  in  wait  to  ac- 
complish we  know  not  what  purpose,  there 
can  be  no  assured  security  for  the  democratic 
Governments  of  the  world. 

We  are  now  about  to  accept  the  gage  of 


22      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

battle  with  this  natural  foe  to  liberty,  and 
shall,  if  necessary,  spend  the  whole  force  of  the 
nation  to  check  and  nullify  its  pretensions  and 
its  power.  We  are  glad,  now  that  we  see  the 
facts  with  no  veil  of  false  pretense  about  them, 
to  fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of  the 
world  and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples, 
the  German  people  included;  for  the  rights 
of  nations  great  and  small  and  the  privilege 
of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of  life 
and  of  obedience.  The  world  must  be  made 
safe  for  democracy.  Its  peace  must  be  planted 
upon  the  trusted  foundations  of  political 
liberty. 

We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We  desire 
no  conquest,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  in- 
demnities for  ourselves,  no  material  compen- 
sation for  the  sacrifices  we  shall  freely  make. 
We  are  but  one  of  the  champions  of  the  rights 
of  mankind.  We  shall  be  satisfied  when  those 
rights  have  been  made  as  secure  as  the  faith 
and  the  freedom  of  the  nation  can  make 
them. 

Just  because  we  fight  without  rancor  and 
without  selfish  objects,  seeking  nothing  for 
ourselves  but  what  we  shall  wish  to  share  with 
all  free  peoples,  we  shall,  I  feel  confident,  con- 
duct our  operations  as  belligerents  without 
passion  and  ourselves  observe  with  proud 
punctilio  the  principles  of  right  and  of  fair 
play  we  profess  to  be  fighting  for. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      23 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  Governments  al- 
lied with  the  Imperial  Government  of  Germany 
because  they  have  not  made  war  upon  us  or 
challenged  us  to  defend  our  right  and  our 
honor. 

The  Austro-Hungarian  Government  has  in- 
deed avowed  its  unqualified  indorsement  and 
acceptance  of  the  reckless  and  lawless  sub- 
marine warfare  adopted  now  without  disguise 
by  the  Imperial  German  Government,  and  it 
has  therefore  not  been  possible  for  this  Govern- 
ment to  receive  Count  Tarnowski,  the  am- 
bassador recently  accredited  to  this  Govern- 
ment by  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government 
of  Austria-Hungary;  but  that  Government 
has  not  actually  engaged  in  warfare  against 
citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  seas,  and 
I  take  the  liberty,  for  the  present  at  least,  of 
postponing  a  discussion  of  our  relations  with 
the  authorities  at  Vienna. 

OPPOSITION    TO    THE    GERMAN    GOVERNMENT 
FRIENDSHIP  TOWARD  THE  GERMAN  PEOPLE 

We  enter  this  war  only  where  we  are  clearly 
forced  into  it  because  there  are  no  other  means 
of  defending  our  rights. 

It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct 
ourselves  as  belligerents  in  a  high  spirit  of 
right  and  fairness  because  we  act  without  ani- 
mus, not  in  enmity  toward  a  people  or  with  the 
desire  to  bring  any  injury  or  disadvantage 


24      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

upon  them,  but  only  in  armed  opposition  to  an 
irresponsible  Government  which  has  thrown 
aside  all  considerations  of  humanity  and  of 
right  and  is  running  amuck. 

We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends 
of  the  German  people,  and  shall  desire  nothing 
so  much  as  the  early  re-establishment  of  inti- 
mate relations  of  mutual  advantage  between 
us — ^however  hard  it  may  be  for  them,  for  the 
time  being,  to  believe  that  this  is  spoken  from 
our  hearts.  We  have  borne  with  their  present 
Government  through  all  these  bitter  months 
because  of  that  friendship — exercising  a  pa- 
tience and  forbearance  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  impossible. 

We  shall,  happily,  still  have  an  opportunity 
to  prove  that  friendship  in  our  daily  attitude 
and  actions  toward  the  millions  of  men  and 
women  of  German  birth  and  native  sympathy 
who  live  amongst  us  and  share  our  life,  and 
we  shall  be  proud  to  prove  it  toward  all  who 
are,  in  fact,  loyal  to  their  neighbors  and  to  the 
Government  in  the  hour  of  test.  They  are, 
most  of  them,  as  true  and  loyal  Americans  as 
if  they  had  never  known  any  other  fealty  or 
allegiance.  They  will  be  prompt  to  stand  with 
us  in  rebuking  and  restraining  the  few  who 
may  be  of  a  different  mind  and  purpose.  If 
there  should  be  disloyalty  it  will  be  dealt  with 
with  a  firm  hand  of  stem  repression;  but,  if 
it  lifts  its  head  at  all,  it  will  lift  it  only  here 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      25 

and  there  and  without  countenance  except 
from  a  lawless  and  malignant  few. 

RIGHT  MORE  PRECIOUS  THAN  PEACE 

It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Congress,  which  I  have  per- 
formed in  thus  addressing  you.  There  are,  it 
may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacri- 
fice ahead  of  us.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead 
this  great,  peaceful  people  into  war,  into  the 
most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civili- 
zation itself  seeming  to  be  in  the  balance. 
But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and 
we  shall  fight  for  the  things  which  we  have 
always  carried  nearest  our  hearts  —  for  de- 
mocracy, for  the  right  of  those  who  submit  to 
authority  to  have  a  voice  in  their  own  govern- 
ments, for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small 
nations,  for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by 
such  a  concert  of  free  peoples  as  shall  bring 
peace  and  safety  to  all  nations  and  make  the 
world  itself  at  last  free. 

To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives 
and  our  fortunes,  everything  that  we  are  and 
everything  that  we  have,  with  the  pride  of 
those  who  know  that  the  day  has  come  when 
America  is  privileged  to  spend  her  blood  and 
her  might  for  the  principles  that  gave  her 
birth  and  happiness  and  the  peace  which  she 
has  treasured.  God  helping  her,  she  can  do  no 
other. 


Ill 

A  STATE  OF  WAR 
(The  Presidents  Proclamation  of  April  6,  igif) 

Whereas,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
in  the  exercise  of  the  constitutional  authority 
vested  in  them,  have  resolved  by  joint  resolu- 
tion of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, bearing  date  this  day,  that  a  state  of  war 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Imperial 
German  Government,  which  has  been  thrust 
upon  the  United  States,  is  hereby  formally 
declared; 

Whereas,  It  is  provided  by  Section  4067  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  as  follows : 

Whenever  there  is  declared  a  war  between  the  United 
States  and  any  foreign  nation  or  Government,  or  any 
invasion  or  predatory  incursion  is  perpetrated,  attempted 
or  threatened  against  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
by  any  foreign  nation  or  Government,  and  the  President 
makes  public  proclamation  of  the  event,  all  natives, 
citizens,  denizens  or  subjects  of  a  hostile  nation  or  Gov- 
ernment being  male  of  the  age  of  fourteen  years  and 
upward  who  shall  be  within  the  United  States  and  not 
actually  naturalized  shall  be  liable  to  be  apprehended, 
restrained  secured  and  removed  as  alien  enemies. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      27 

The  President  is  authorized  in  any  such 
event,  by  his  proclamation  thereof  or  other 
public  acts,  to  direct  the  conduct  to  be  ob- 
served on  the  part  of  the  United  States  tow- 
ard the  aliens  who  become  so  Hable;  the 
manner  and  degree  of  the  restraint  to  which 
they  shall  be  subject  and  in  what  cases  and 
upon  what  security  their  residence  shall  be 
permitted  and  to  provide  for  the  removal  of 
those  who,  not  being  permitted  to  reside  within 
the  United  States,  refuse  or  neglect  to  depart 
therefrom,  and  to  establish  any  such  regula- 
tions which  are  found  necessary  in  the  prem- 
ises and  for  the  public  safety; 

Whereas,  By  Sections  4068,  4069,  and  4070 
of  the  Revised  Statutes  further  provision  is 
made  relative  to  alien  enemies; 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America,  do 
hereby  proclaim  to  all  whom  it  may  concern 
that  a  state  of  war  exists  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Imperial  German  Government, 
and  I  do  specially  direct  all  officers,  civil  or 
military,  of  the  United  States  that  they  exer- 
cise vigilance  and  zeal  in  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  incident  to  such  a  state  of  war,  and  I 
do,  moreover,  earnestly  appeal  to  all  American 
citizens  that  they,  in  loyal  devotion  to  their 
country,  dedicated  from  its  foundation  to  the 
principles  of  liberty  and  justice,  uphold  the 
laws  of  the  land  and  give  midivided  and  will- 


28      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

ing  support  to  those  measures  which  may  be 
adopted  by  the  constitutional  authorities  in 
prosecuting  the  war  to  a  successful  issue  and 
in  obtaining  a  secure  and  just  peace ; 

And  acting  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  au- 
thority vested  in  me  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  the  said  sections  of  the 
Revised  Statutes: 

I  do  hereby  further  proclaim  and  direct  that 
the  conduct  to  be  observed  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  toward  all  natives,  citizens,  deni- 
zens or  subjects  of  Germany,  being  male,  of 
the  age  of  fourteen  years  and  upward,  who 
shall  be  within  the  United  States  and  not  act- 
ually naturalized,  who  for  the  purpose  of  this 
proclamation  and  under  such  sections  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  are  termed  alien  enemies, 
shall  be  as  follows : 

All  alien  enemies  are  enjoined  to  preserve  the  peace 
toward  the  United  States  and  to  refrain  from  crime 
against  the  public  safety  and  from  violating  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  States  and  Territories 
thereof,  and  to  refrain  from  actual  hostility  or  giving  in- 
formation, aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  comply  strictly  with  the  regulations  which 
are  hereby  or  which  may  be  from  time  to  time  promul- 
gated by  the  President,  and  so  long  as  they  shall  conduct 
themselves  in  accordance  with  law  they  shall  be  undis- 
turbed in  the  peaceful  pursuit  of  their  lives  and  occupa- 
tions and  be  accorded  the  consideration  due  to  all 
peaceful  and  law-abiding  persons,  except  so  far  as  re- 
strictions may  be  necessary  for  their  own  protection  and 
for  the  safety  of  the  United  States,  and  toward  such  alien 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      29 

enemies  as  conduct  themselves  in  accordance  with  law 
all  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  enjoined  to  preserve 
the  peace  and  to  treat  them  with  all  such  friendUness  as 
may  be  compatible  with  loyalty  and  allegiance  to  the 
United  States. 

And  all  alien  enemies  who  fail  to  conduct  themselves 
as  so  enjoined,  in  addition  to  all  other  penalties  pre- 
scribed by  law,  shall  be  liable  to  restraint  or  to  give 
security  or  to  remove  and  depart  from  the  United  States 
in  the  manner  prescribed  by  Sections  4069  and  4070  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  and  as  prescribed  in  the  regulations 
duly  promulgated  by  the  President, 

And,  pursuant  to  the  authority  vested  in 
me,  I  hereby  declare  and  establish  the  follow- 
ing regulations,  which  I  find  necessary  in  the 
premises  and  for  the  public  safety : 

First.  An  alien  enemy  shall  not  have  in  his  possession 
at  any  time  or  place  any  firearms,  weapons  or  imple- 
ment of  war,  or  component  parts  thereof;  ammimition, 
Maxim  or  other  silencer,  arms  or  explosives  or  material 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  explosives. 

Second.  An  aHen  enemy  shall  not  have  in  his  possession 
at  any  time  or  place,  or  use  or  operate,  any  aircraft 
or  wireless  apparatus,  or  any  form  of  signaling  device, 
or  any  form  of  cipher  code  or  any  paper,  document 
or  book  written  or  printed  in  cipher,  or  in  which  there 
may  be  invisible  writing. 

Third.  All  property  found  in  the  possession  of  an  alien 
enemy  in  violation  of  the  foregoing  regulations  shall  be 
subject  to  seizure  by  the  United  States. 

Fourth.  An  alien  enemy  shall  not  approach  or  be 
found  within  one-half  of  a  mile  of  any  Federal  or  State 
fort,  camp,  arsenal,  aircraft  station.  Government  or 
naval  vessel,  navy-yard,  factory  or  workshop  for  the 


30      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

manufacture  of  munitions  of  war  or  of  any  products  for 
the  use  of  the  army  or  navy. 

Fifth.  An  aUen  enemy  shall  not  write,  print  or  publish 
any  attack  or  threat  against  the  Government  or  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  or  either  branch  thereof,  or 
against  the  measures  or  policy  of  the  United  States,  or 
against  the  persons  or  property  of  any  person  in  the 
military,  naval  or  civil  service  of  the  United  States,  or 
of  the  States  or  Territories,  or  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
or  of  the  municipal  governments  therein. 

Sixth.  An  alien  enemy  shall  not  commit  or  abet  any 
hostile  acts  against  the  United  States,  or  give  informa- 
tion, aid  or  comfort  to  its  enemies. 

Seventh.  An  aUen  enemy  shall  not  reside  in  or  con- 
tinue to  reside  in,  to  remain  in  or  enter  any  locality 
which  the  President  may  from  time  to  time  designate 
by  an  executive  order  as  a  prohibitive  area  in  which 
residence  by  an  alien  enemy  shall  be  found  by  him 
to  constitute  a  danger  to  the  public  peace  and  safety 
of  the  United  States  except  by  permit  from  the  Presi- 
dent and  except  under  such  limitations  or  restrictions 
as  the  President  may  prescribe. 

Eighth.  An  alien  enemy  whom  the  President  shall 
have  reasonable  cause  to  believe  to  be  aiding  or  about  to 
aid  the  enemy,  or  to  be  at  large  to  the  danger  of  the 
public  peace  or  safety  of  the  United  States,  or  to  have 
violated  or  to  be  about  to  violate  any  of  these  regulations, 
shall  remove  to  any  location  designated  by  the  President 
by  executive  order,  and  shall  not  remove  therefrom  with- 
out permit,  or  shall  depart  from  the  United  States  if  so 
required  by  the  President. 

Ninth.  No  alien  enemy  shall  depart  from  the  United 
States  until  he  shall  have  received  such  permit  as  the 
President  shall  prescribe,  or  except  under  order  of  a 
Coiurt,  Judge  or  Justice,  under  Sections  4069  and  4070 
of  the  Revised  Statutes. 

Tenth.  No  alien  enemy  shall  land  in  or  enter  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      31 

United  States  except  under  such  restrictions  and  at  such 
places  as  the  President  may  prescribe. 

Eleventh.  If  necessary  to  prevent  violation  of  the 
regulations,  all  alien  enemies  will  be  obliged  to  register. 

Twelfth.  An  alien  enemy  whom  there  may  be  reason- 
able cause  to  believe  to  be  aiding  or  about  to  aid  the 
enemy,  or  to  be  at  large  to  the  danger  of  the  public^ 
peace  or  safety,  or  who  violates  or  who  attempts  to 
\dolate  or  of  whom  there  is  reasonable  grounds  to  believe 
that  he  is  about  to  violate  any  regulation  to  be  promul- 
gated by  the  President  or  any  criminal  law  of  the  United 
States  or  of  the  States  or  Territories  thereof,  will  be 
subject  to  summary  arrest  by  the  United  States,  by  the 
United  States  Marshal  or  his  deputy  or  such  other  offi- 
cers as  the  President  shall  designate,  and  to  confinement 
in  such  penitentiary,  prison,  jail,  military  camp,  or  other 
place  of  detention  as  may  be  directed  by  the  President. 

This  proclamation  and  the  regulations  herein 
contained  shall  extend  and  apply  to  all  land 
and  water,  continental  or  insular,  in  any  way 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 


IV 


"SPEAK,  ACT  AND  SERVE  TOGETHER" 
{Message  to  the  American  People,  April  is,  iQi?) 

My  Fellow  Countrymen, — ^The  entrance 
of  our  own  beloved  country  into  the  grim  and 
terrible  war  for  democracy,  and  human  rights 
which  has  shaken  the  world  creates  so  many- 
problems  of  national  life  and  action  which  call 
for  immediate  consideration  and  settlement 
that  I  hope  you  will  permit  me  to  address  to 
you  a  few  words  of  earnest  counsel  and  appeal 
with  regard  to  them. 

We  are  rapidly  putting  our  navy  upon  an 
effective  war  footing  and  are  about  to  create 
and  equip  a  great  army,  but  these  are  the  sim- 
plest parts  of  the  great  task  to  which  we  have 
addressed  ourselves.  There^s  not  a  single  self- 
ish element,  so  far  as  fcan  see,  in~tEe~cause 
we  are  fighting  for.  We  are  fighting  for  what 
we  believe  and  wish  to  be  the  rights  of  man- 
kind and  for  the  future  peace  and  security  of 
the  world.  To  do  this  great  thing  worthily  and 
successfully  we  must  devote  ourselves  to  the 
service  without  regard  to  profit  or  material  ad- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      33 

vantage  and  with  an  energy  and  intelligence 
that  will  rise  to  the  level  of  the  enterprise 
itself.  We  must  realize  to  the  full  how  great 
the  task  is  and  how  many  things,  how  many 
kinds  and  elements  of  capacity  and  service  and 
self-sacrifice  it  involves. 

WHAT  WE   MUST  DO 

These,  then,  are  the  things  we  must  do,  and 
do  well,  besides  fighting — the  things  without 
which  mere  fighting  would  be  fruitless : 

We  must  supply  abundant  food  for  ourselves 
and  for  our  armies  and  our  seamen,  not  only, 
but  also  for  a  large  part  of  the  nations  with 
whom  we  have  now  made  common  cause,  in 
whose  support  and  by  whose  sides  we  shall  be 
fighting. 

We  must  supply  ships  by  the  hundreds  out 
of  our  shipyards  to  carry  to  the  other  side  of 
the  sea,  submarines  or  no  submarines,  what 
will  every  day  be  needed  there,  and  abundant 
materials  out  of  our  fields  and  our  mines  and 
our  factories  with  which  not  only  to  clothe 
and  equip  our  own  forces  on  land  and  sea,  but 
also  to  clothe  and  support  our  people,  for 
whom  the  gallant  fellows  under  arms  can  no 
longer  work;  to  help  clothe  and  equip  the 
armies  with  which  we  are  co-operating  in  Eu- 
rope, and  to  keep  the  looms  and  manufacto- 
ries there  .in  raw  material;  coal  to  keep  the 
fires  going  m  ships  at  sea  and  in  the  furnaces 


34      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

of  hundreds  of  factories  across  the  sea;  steel 
out  of  which  to  make  arms  and  ammunition 
both  here  and  there ;  rails  for  womout  railways 
back  of  the  fighting  fronts;  locomotives  and 
rolling-stock  to  take  the  place  of  those  every 
day  going  to  pieces;  mules,  horses,  cattle  for 
labor  and  for  military  service ;  everything  with 
which  the  people  of  England  and  France  and 
Italy  and  Russia  have  usually  supplied  them- 
selves, but  cannot  now  afford  the  men,  the 
materials  or  the  machinery  to  make. 

GREATER   EFFICIENCY 

It  is  evident  to  every  thinking  man  that  our 
industries,  on  the  farms,  in  the  shipyards,  in 
the  mines,  in  the  factories,  must  be  made  more 
prolific  and  more  efficient  than  ever,  and  that 
they  must  be  more  economically  managed,  and 
better  adapted  to  the  particular  requirements 
of  our  task  than  they  have  been;  and  what  I 
want  to  say  is  that  the  men  and  the  women 
who  devote  their  thought  and  their  energy  to 
these  things  will  be  serving  the  country  and 
conducting  the  fight  for  peace  and  freedom 
just  as  truly  and  just  as  effectively  as  the  men 
on  the  battle-field  or  in  the  trenches.  The  in- 
dustrial forces  of  the  country,  men  and  women 
alike,  will  be  a  great  national,  a  great  interna- 
tional, service  army — a  notable  and  honored 
host  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  nation  and 
the  world,  the  efficient  friends  and  saviors  of 

/' 
/ 

/ 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      35 

free  men  everTwhere.  Thousands,  nay,  hun- 
dreds of  thousands,  of  men  otherwise  Hable  to 
military  service  will  of  right  and  of  necessity 
be  excused  from  that  service  and  assigned  to 
the  fundamental  sustaining  work  of  the  fields 
and  factories  and  mines,  and  they  will  be  as 
much  part  of  the  great  patriotic  forces  of  the 
nation  as  the  men  under  fire. 

I  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  of  addressing 
this  word  to  the  farmers  of  the  country  and  to 
all  who  work  on  the  farms :  The  supreme  need 
of  our  own  nation  and  of  the  nations  with 
which  we  are  co-operating  is  an  abundance  of 
supplies,  and  especially  of  foodstuffs.  The  im- 
portance of  an  adequate  food-supply,  especially 
for  the  present  year,  is  superlative.  Without 
abundant  food,  alilce  for  the  armies  and  the 
peoples  now  at  war,  the  whole  great  enterprise 
upon  which  we  have  embarked  will  break  down 
and  fail.  The  world's  food  reserves  are  low. 
Not  only  during  the  present  emergency,  but 
for  some  time  after  peace  shall  have  come, 
both  our  own  people  and  a  large  proportion  of 
the  people  of  Europe  must  rely  upon  the  har- 
vests in  America. 

THE  RESPONSIBILITY  OP  THE  FARMERS 

Upon  the  farmers  of  this  country,  therefore, 
in  large  measure  rest  the  fate  of  the  war  and 
the  fate  of  the  nations.  May  the  nation  not 
count  upon  them  to  omit  no  step  that  will  in- 


36      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

crease  the  production  of  their  land  or  that  will 
bring  about  the  most  effectual  co-operation 
in  the  sale  and  distribution  of  their  products? 
The  time  is  short.  It  is  of  the  most  imperative 
importance  that  everything  possible  be  done, 
and  done  immediately,  to  make  sure  of  large 
harvests.  I  call  upon  young  men  and  old  alike 
and  upon  the  able-bodied  boys  of  the  land  to 
accept  and  act  upon  this  duty — to  turn  in 
hosts  to  the  farms  and  make  certain  that  no 
pains  and  no  labor  is  lacking  in  this  great 
matter. 

I  particularly  appeal  to  the  farmers  of  the 
South  to  plant  abundant  foodstuffs,  as  well  as 
cotton.  They  can  show  their  patriotism  in  no 
better  or  more  convincing  way  than  by  resist- 
ing the  great  temptation  of  the  present  price 
of  cotton  and  helping,  helping  upon  a  great 
scale,  to  feed  the  nation  and  the  peoples  every- 
where who  are  fighting  for  their  liberties  and 
for  our  own.  The  variety  of  their  crops  will  be 
the  visible  measure  of  their  comprehension  of 
their  national  duty. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
the  Governments  of  the  several  States  stand 
ready  to  co-operate.  They  win  do  everything 
possible  to  assist  farmers  in  securing  an  ade- 
quate supply  of  seed,  an  adequate  force  of  la- 
borers when  they  are  most  needed,  at  harvest- 
time,  and  the  means  of  expediting  shipments 
of  fertilizers  and  farm  machinery,  as  well  as 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      37 

of  the  crops  themselves  when  harvested.  The 
course  of  trade  shall  be  as  unhampered  as  it 
is  possible  to  make  it,  and  there  shall  be  no 
unwarranted  manipulation  of  the  nation's  food- 
supply  by  those  who  handle  it  on  its  way  to 
the  consumer.  This  is  our  opportunity  to 
demonstrate  the  efficiency  of  a  great  democ- 
racy, and  we  shall  not  fall  short  of  it ! 

THE   DUTY  OF  MIDDLEMEN 

This  let  me  say  to  the  middlemen  of  every 
sort,  whether  they  are  handling  our  foodstuffs 
or  the  raw  materials  of  manufacture  or  the 
products  of  our  mills  and  factories :  The  eyes 
of  the  country  will  be  especially  upon  you. 
This  is  your  opportunity  for  signal  service, 
efficient  and  disinterested.  The  country  ex- 
pects you,  as  it  expects  all  others,  to  forego 
unusual  profits,  to  organize  and  expedite  ship- 
ments of  supplies  of  every  kind,  but  especially 
of  food,  with  an  eye  to  the  service  you  are 
rendering  and  in  the  spirit  of  those  who  enlist 
in  the  ranks,  for  their  people,  not  for  them- 
selves. I  shall  confidently  expect  you  to  de- 
serve and  win  the  confidence  of  people  of  every 
sort  and  station. 

THE  MEN  OF  THE  RAILWAYS 

To  the  men  who  run  the  railways  of  the 
country,  whether  they  be  managers  or  opera- 
tive employees,  let  me  say  that  the  railways  are 


38       IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

the  arteries  of  the  nation's  life  and  that  upon 
them  rests  the  immense  responsibility  of  seeing 
to  it  that  those  arteries  stiff er  no  obstruction 
of  any  kind,  no  inefficiency  or  slackened  power. 
To  the  merchant  let  me  suggest  the  motto, 
"Small  profits  and  quick  service,"  and  to  the 
shipbuilder  the  thought  that  the  life  of  the  war 
depends  upon  him.  The  food  and  the  war 
supplies  must  be  carried  across  the  seas,  no 
matter  how  many  ships  are  sent  to  the  bottom. 
The  places  of  those  that  go  down  must  be  sup- 
plied, and  supplied  at  once.  To  the  miner  let 
me  say  that  he  stands  where  the  farmer  does: 
the  work  of  the  world  waits  on  him.  If  he 
slackens  or  fails,  armies  and  statesmen  are 
helpless.  He  also  is  enlisted  in  the  great  Ser- 
vice Army.  The  manufacturer  does  not  need 
to  be  told,  I  hope,  that  the  nation  looks  to  him 
to  speed  and  perfect  every  process ;  and  I  want 
only  to  remind  his  employees  that  their  service 
is  absolutely  indispensable  and  is  counted  on 
by  every  man  who  loves  the  country  and  its 
liberties. 

Let  me  suggest  also  that  every  one  who  cre- 
ates or  cultivates  a  garden  helps,  and  helps 
greatly,  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  feeding  of 
the  nations;  and  that  every  housewife  who 
practises  strict  economy  puts  herself  in  the 
ranks  of  those  who  serve  the  nation.  This  is 
the  time  for  America  to  correct  her  unpardon- 
able fault  of  wastefulness  and  extravagance. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       39 

Let  every  man  and  every  woman  assume  the 
duty  of  careful,  provident  use  and  expenditure 
as  a  public  duty,  as  a  dictate  of  patriotism 
which  no  one  can  now  expect  ever  to  be  ex- 
cused or  forgiven  for  ignoring. 

THE    SUPREME   TEST 

In  the  hope  that  this  statement  of  the  needs 
of  the  nation  and  of  the  world  in  this  hour  of 
supreme  crisis  may  stimulate  those  to  whom  it 
comes  and  remind  all  who  need  reminder  of 
the  solemn  duties  of  a  time  such  as  the  world 
has  never  seen  before,  I  beg  that  all.  editors 
and  publishers  everywhere  will  give  as  promi- 
nent publication  and  as  wide  circulation  as 
possible  to  this  appeal.  I  venture  to  suggest 
also  to  all  advertising  agencies  that  they  would 
perhaps  render  a  very  substantial  and  timely 
service  to  the  country  if  they  would  give  it 
widespread  repetition.  And  I  hope  that  clergy- 
men will  not  think  the  theme  of  it  an  unworthy 
or  inappropriate  subject  of  comment  and  hom- 
ily from  their  pulpits. 

The  supreme  test  of  the  nation  has  come. 
We  must  all  speak,  act  and  serve  together. 

4        "^'  ' '  '^ 


V 


THE   CONSCRIPTION   PROCLAMATION 
(May  j8,  1917) 

Whereas,  Congress  has  enacted  and  the  Pres- 
ident has  on  the  i8th  day  of  May,  191 7,  ap- 
proved a  law  which  contains  the  following 
provisions : 

Section  5.  That  all  male  persons  between 
the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  thirty,  both  inclu- 
sive, shall  be  subject  to  registration  in  accord- 
ance with  regulations  to  be  prescribed  by  the 
President,  and  upon  proclamation  by  the  Presi- 
ident  or  other  pubHc  notice  given  by  him  or 
by  his  direction,  stating  the  time  and  place  of 
such  registration,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all 
persons  of  the  designated  ages,  except  officers 
and  enlisted  men  of  the  Regular  Army,  the 
Navy  and  the  National  Guard  and  Naval  Mi- 
litia while  in  the  service  of  the  United  States, 
to  present  themselves  for  and  submit  to  regis- 
tration under  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

And  every  such  person  shall  be  deemed  to 
have  notice  of  the  requirements  of  this  act 
upon  the  publication  of  said  proclamation  or 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      41 

other  notice  as  aforesaid  given  by  the  President 
or  by  his  direction. 

THE    PENALTY   FOR   FAILURE 

And  any  person  who  shall  wilfully  fail  or 
refuse  to  present  himself  for  registration  or  to 
submit  thereto  as  herein  provided,  shall  be 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  shall,  upon  con- 
viction in  the  District  Court  of  the  United 
States  having  jurisdiction  thereof,  be  punished 
by  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  one  year, 
and  shall  thereupon  be  duly  registered. 

Provided,  that  in  the  call  of  the  docket  pref- 
erence shall  be  given,  in  courts  trying  the  same, 
to  the  trial  of  criminal  proceedings  under  this 
act. 

Provided,  further,  that  persons  shall  be  sub- 
ject to  registration  as  herein  provided  who 
shall  have  attained  their  twenty-first  birthday 
and  who  shall  not  have  attained  their  thirty- 
first  birthday  on  or  before  the  day  set  for  the 
registration,  and  all  persons  so  registered  shall 
be  and  remain  subject  to  draft  into  the  forces 
hereby  authorized  unless  exempted  or  excused 
therefrom,  as  in  this  act  provided. 

Provided,  further,  that  in  the  case  of  tempo- 
rary absence  from  actual  place  of  legal  resi- 
dence of  any  person  liable  to  registration  as 
provided  herein,  such  registration  may  be  made 
by  mail  under  regulations  to  be  prescribed  by 
the  President. 


42      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

THE   WORK   OF   REGISTRATION 

Section  6.  That  the  President  is  hereby  au- 
thorized to  utilize  the  service  of  any  or  all  de- 
partments and  any  or  all  officers  or  agents  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States, 
Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
subdivisions  thereof,  in  the  execution  of  this 
act,  and  all  officers  and  agents  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  several  States,  Territories 
and  subdivisions  thereof,  and  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  all  persons  designated  or  ap- 
pointed under  regulations  prescribed  by  the 
President,  whether  such  appointments  are  made 
by  the  President  himself  or  by  the  Governor  or 
other  officer  of  any  State  or  Territory  to  per- 
form any  duty  in  the  execution  of  this  act,  are 
hereby  required  to  perform  such  duty  as  the 
President  shall  order  or  direct,  and  all  such 
officers  and  agents  and  persons  so  designated 
or  appointed  shall  hereby  have  full  authority 
for  all  acts  done  by  them  in  the  execution  of 
this  act,  by  the  direction  of  the  President. 
Correspondence  in  the  execution  of  this  act 
may  be  carried  in  penalty  envelopes  bearing 
the  frank  of  the  War  Department. 

NEGLECT  OF  DUTY  AND  FRAUD 

Any  person  charged,  as  herein  provided,  with 
the  duty  of  carrying  into  effect  any  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act  or  the  regulations  made  or 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      43 

directions  given  thereunder  who  shall  fail  or 
neglect  to  perform  such  duty,  and  any  person 
charged  with  such  duty  or  having  and  exercis- 
ing any  authority  under  said  act,  regulations 
or  directions,  who  shall  knowingly  make  or  be 
a  party  to  the  making  of  any  false  or  incorrect 
registration,  physical  examination,  exemption, 
enlistment,  enrolment  or  muster. 

And  any  person  who  shall  make  or  be  a  party 
to  the  making  of  any  false  statement  or  certifi- 
cate as  to  the  fitness  or  liability  of  himself  or 
any  other  person  for  service  under  the  provi- 
sions of  this  act,  or  regulations  made  by  the 
President  thereunder,  or  otherwise  evades  or 
aids  another  to  evade  the  requirements  of  this 
act  or  of  said  regulations,  or  who,  in  any  man- 
ner, shall  fail  or  neglect  fully  to  perform  any 
duty  required  of  him  in  the  execution  of  this  act, 
shall,  if  not  subject  to  military  law,  be  guilty 
of  a  misdemeanor  and  upon  conviction  in  the 
District  Court  of  the  United  States  having  ju- 
risdiction thereof  be  punished  by  imprisonment 
for  not  more  than  one  year,  or,  if  subject  to 
military  law,  shall  be  tried  by  court  martial 
and  suffer  such  punishment  as  a  court  martial 
may  direct. 

A  CALL  TO   GOVERNORS 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  do  call  upon  the 
Governor  of  each  of  the  several  States  and 


44      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

Territories,  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  all  officers 
and  agents  of  the  several  States  and  Terri- 
tories, of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  of 
the  counties  and  municipalities  therein,  to 
perform  certain  duties  in  the  execution  of 
the  foregoing  law,  which  duties  will  be  com- 
municated to  them  directly  in  regulations  of 
even  date  herewith. 

And  I  do  further  proclaim  and  give  notice 
to  all  persons  subject  to  registration  in  the 
several  States  and  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
in  accordance  with  the  above  law,  that  the 
time  and  place  of  such  registration  shall  be 
between  7  a.m.  and  7  p.m.  on  the  5th  day 
of  June,  191 7,  at  the  registration  place  in  the 
precinct  wherein  they  have  their  permanent 
homes. 

Those  who  shall  have  attained  their  twenty- 
first  birthday  and  who  shall  not  have  attained 
their  thirty-first  birthday  on  or  before  the  day 
here  named  are  required  to  register,  excepting 
only  officers  and  enlisted  men  of  the  Regular 
Army,  the  Navy,  the  Marine  Corps  and  the 
National  Guard  and  Naval  Militia  while  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  officers 
in  the  Officers'  Reserve  Corps  and  enlisted  men 
in  the  enlisted  Reserve  Corps  while  in  active 
service.  In  the  Territories  of  Alaska,  Hawaii 
and  Porto  Rico  a  day  for  registration  will  be 
named  in  a  later  proclamation. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      45 

REGISTRATION    BY   MAIL 

And  I  do  hereby  charge  those  who,  through 
sickness,  shall  be  unable  to  present  them- 
selves for  registration  that  they  apply  on  or 
before  the  day  of  registration  to  the  County 
Clerk  of  the  county  where  they  may  be  for- 
instructions  as  to  how  they  may  be  registered 
by  agent. 

Those  who  expect  to  be  absent  on  the  day 
named  from  the  counties  in  which  they  have 
their  permanent  homes  may  register  by  mail, 
but  their  mailed  registration  cards  must  reach 
the  places  in  which  they  have  their  perma- 
nent homes  by  the  day  named  herein.  They 
should  apply  as  soon  as  practicable  to  the 
County  Clerk  of  the  county  wherein  they  may 
be  for  instructions  as  to  how  they  may  accom- 
plish their  registration  by  mail. 

In  case  such  persons  as,  through  sickness  or 
absence,  may  be  unable  to  present  themselves 
personally  for  registration  shall  be  sojourning 
in  cities  of  over  30,000  population,  they  shall 
apply  to  the  City  Clerk  of  the  city  wherein 
they  may  be  sojourning  rather  than  to  the 
Clerk  of  the  county. 

The  Clerks  of  counties  and  of  cities  of  over 
30,000  population,  in  which  numerous  applica- 
tions from  the  sick  and  from  non-residents  are 
expected,  are  authorized  to  establish  such  sub- 
agencies  and  to  employ  and  deputize  such  cler* 


46      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

ical  force  as  may  be  necessary  to  accommodate 
these  applications. 

THE    WHOLE    NATION   AN   ARMY 

The  Power  against  which  we  are  arrayed  has 
sought  to  impose  its  will  upon  the  world  by 
force.  To  this  end  it  has  increased  armament 
until  it  has  changed  the  face  of  war.  In  the 
sense  in  which  we  have  been  wont  to  think  of 
armies  there  are  no  armies  in  this  struggle, 
there  are  entire  nations  armed. 

Thus,  the  men  who  remain  to  till  the  soil 
and  man  the  factories  are  no  less  a  part  of  the 
army  that  is  in  France  than  the  men  beneath 
the  battle  flags. 

It  must  be  so  with  us.  It  is  not  an  army 
that  we  must  shape  and  train  for  war — ^it  is  a 
Nation.  To  this  end  our  people  must  draw 
close  in  one  compact  front  against  a  common 
foe.  But  this  cannot  be  if  each  man  pursues 
a  private  purpose.  All  must  pursue  one  pur- 
pose. The  Nation  needs  all  men,  but  it  needs 
each  man,  not  in  the  field  that  will  most  pleas- 
ure him,  but  in  the  endeavor  that  will  best 
serve  the  common  good. 

Thus,  though  a  sharpshooter  pleases  to  op- 
erate a  trip-hammer  for  the  forging  of  great 
guns,  and  an  expert  machinist  desires  to  march 
with  the  flag,  the  Nation  is  being  served  only 
when  the  sharpshooter  marches  and  the  ma- 
chinist remains  at  his  levers.     The  whole  Na- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      47 

tion  must  be  a  team,  in  which  each  man  shall 
play  the  part  for  which  he  is  best  fitted. 

NOT  A   DRAFT  OP  THE  UNWILLING 

To  this  end  Congress  has  provided  that  the 
Nation  shall  be  organized  for  war  by  selection, 
that  each  man  shall  be  classified  for  service  in 
the  place  to  which  it  shall  best  serve  the  gen- 
eral good  to  call  him. 

The  significance  of  this  cannot  be  overstated. 
It  is  a  new  thing  in  our  history  and  a  landmark 
in  our  progress.  It  is  a  new  manner  of  accept- 
ing and  vitalizing  our  duty  to  give  ourselves 
with  thoughtful  devotion  to  the  common  pur- 
pose of  us  all.  It  is  in  no  sense  a  conscription 
of  the  unwilling.  It  is,  rather,  selection  from 
a  Nation  which  has  volunteered  in  mass. 

It  is  no  more  a  choosing  of  those  who  shall 
march  with  the  colors  than  it  is  a  selection  of 
those  who  shall  serve  an  equally  necessary  and 
devoted  purpose  in  the  industries  that  lie  be- 
hind the  battle-lines. 

The  day  here  named  is  the  time  upon  which 
all  shall  present  themselves  for  assignment  to 
their  tasks.  It  is  for  that  reason  destined  to 
be  remembered  as  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
moments  in  our  history.  It  is  nothing  less 
than  the  day  upon  which  the  manhood  of  the 
country  shall  step  forward  in  one  soHd  rank  in 
defense  of  the  ideals  to  which  this  Nation  is 
consecrated.    It  is  important  to  those  ideals, 


48      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

no  less  than  to  the  pride  of  this  generation  in 
manifesting  its  devotion  to  them,  that  there  be 
no  gaps  in  the.  ranks. 

DAY    OF    PATRIOTIC    DEVOTION 

It  is  essential  that  the  day  be  approached  in 
thoughtful  apprehension  of  its  significance  and 
that  we  accord  to  it  the  honor  and  the  mean- 
ing that  it  deserves.  Our  industrial  need  pre- 
scribes that  it  be  not  made  a  technical  holiday, 
but  the  stern  sacrifice  that  is  before  us  urges 
that  it  be  carried  in  all  our  hearts  as  a  great 
day  of  patriotic  devotion  and  obligation,  when 
the  duty  shall  lie  upon  every  man,  whether  he 
is  himself  to  be  registered  or  not,  to  see  to  it 
that  the  name  of  every  male  person  of  the  des- 
ignated ages  is  written  on  these  lists  of  honor. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
hand  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States 
to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this  i8th 
day  of  May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  191 7,  and 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first. 

By  the  President : 

Robert  Lansing, 

Secretary  of  State. 


VI 

CONSERVING  THE  NATION'S  FOOD 
{May  IQ,  1917) 

It  is  very  desirable,  in  order  to  prevent  mis- 
understanding or  alarms  and  to  assure  co-op- 
eration in  a  vital  matter,  that  the  country 
should  understand  exactly  the  scope  and  pur- 
pose of  the  very  great  powers  which  I  have 
thought  it  necessary,  in  the  circumstances,  to 
ask  the  Congress  to  put  in  my  hands  with  re- 
gard to  our  food-supplies. 

Those  powers  are  very  great,  indeed,  but 
they  are  no  greater  than  it  has  proved  neces- 
sary to  lodge  in  the  other  Governments  which 
are  conducting  this  momentous  war,  and  their 
object  is  stimulation  and  conservation,  not  ar- 
bitrary restraint  or  injurious  interference  with 
the  normal  processes  of  production.  They  are 
intended  to  benefit  and  assist  the  farmer  and  all 
those  who  play  a  legitimate  part  in  the  prepara- 
tion, distribution  and  marketing  of  foodstuffs. 

A    SHARP    LINE    OF   DISTINCTION 

It  is  proposed  to  draw  a  sharp  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  the  normal  activities  of  the 


so      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

Government,  represented  in  the  Department 
of  Agriculture,  in  reference  to  food  production, 
conservation  and  marketing,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  emergency  activities  necessitated  by 
the  war,  in  reference  to  the  regulation  of  food 
distribution  and  consumption,  on  the  other. 

All  measures  intended  directly  to  extend  the 
normal  activities  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, in  reference  to  the  production,  conser- 
vation and  the  marketing  of  farm  crops,  will 
be  administered,  as  in  normal  times,  through 
that  department;  and  the  powers  asked  for 
over  distribution  and  consumption,  over  ex- 
ports, imports,  prices,  purchase  and  requisition 
of  commodities,  storing  and  the  like,  which 
may  require  regulation  during  the  war,  will  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  Commissioner  of  Food 
Administration,  appointed  by  the  President 
and  directly  responsible  to  him. 

THE    END   TO    BE   ATTAINED 

The  objects  sought  to  be  served  by  the  leg- 
islation asked  for  are:  Full  inquiry  into  the 
existing  available  stocks  of  foodstuffs  and  into 
the  costs  and  practices  of  the  various  food  pro- 
ducing and  distributing  trades ;  the  prevention 
of  all  unwarranted  hoarding  of  every  kind,  and 
of  the  control  of  foodstuffs  by  persons  who  are 
not  in  any  legitimate  sense  producers,  dealers 
or  traders ;  the  requisition,  when  necessary  for 
public  use,  of  food  supplies  and  of  the  equip- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       51 

ment  necessary  for  handling  them  properly; 
the  licensing  of  wholesome  and  legitimate  mix- 
tures and  milling  percentages,  and  the  prohi- 
bition of  the  unnecessary  or  wasteful  use  of 
foods. 

Authority  is  asked  also  to  establish  prices, 
but  nc^t  in  order  to  limit  the  profits  of  the 
farmcis,  but  only  to  guarantee  to  them,  when 
necessary,  a  minimum  price,  which  will  insure 
them  a  profit  where  they  are  asked  to  attempt 
new  crops,  and  to  secure  the  consumer  against 
extortion  by  breaking  up  corners  and  attempts 
at  speculation  when  they  occur,  by  fixing  tem- 
porarily a  reasonable  price  at  which  middle- 
men must  sell. 

THE   FIXING   OF   PRICES 

I  have  asked  Mr.  Herbert  Hoover  to  under- 
take this  all-important  task  of  food  adminis- 
tration. He  has  expressed  his  willingness  to  do 
so,  on  condition  that  he  is  to  receive  no  pay- 
ment for  his  services,  and  that  the  whole  of  the 
force  under  him,  exclusive  of  clerical  assistance, 
shall  be  employed,  as  far  as  possible,  upon  the 
same  volunteer  basis. 

He  has  expressed  his  confidence  that  this 
difficult  matter  of  food  administration  can  be 
successfully  accomplished  through  the  vol- 
untary co-operation  and  direction  of  legiti- 
mate distributers  of  foodstuffs  and  with  the 
help  of  the  women  of  the  country. 


52      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

Although  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  un- 
questionable powers  shall  be  placed  in  my 
hands,  in  order  to  insure  the  success  of  this 
administration  of  the  f  ood-suppHes  of  the  coun- 
try, I  am  confident  that  the  exercise  of  those 
powers  will  be  necessary  only  in  the  few  cases 
where  some  small  and  selfish  minority  proves 
unwilling  to  put  the  Nation's  interests  above 
personal  advantage,  and  that  the  whole  coun- 
try will  heartily  support  Mr.  Hoover's  efforts 
by  supplying  the  necessary  volunteer  agencies 
throughout  the  country  for  the  intelligent  con- 
trol of  food  consumption,  and  securing  the 
co-operation  of  the  most  capable  leaders  of  the 
very  interests  most  directly  affected,  that  the 
exercise  of  the  powers  deputed  to  him  will  rest 
very  successfully  upon  the  good- will  and  co-op- 
eration of  the  people  themselves,  and  that  the 
ordinary  economic  machinery  of  the  country 
will  be  left  substantially  undisturbed. 

NO   FEAR  OF   BUREAUCRACY 

The  proposed  food  administration  is  intended, 
of  course,  only  to  meet  a  manifest  emergency 
and  to  continue  only  while  the  war  lasts.  Since 
it  will  be  composed  for  the  most  part  of  volun- 
teers, there  need  be  no  fear  of  the  possibility 
of  a  permanent  bureaucracy  arising  out  of  it. 

All  control  of  consumption  will  disappear 
when  the  emergency  has  passed.  It  is  with 
that  object  in  view  that  the  Administration 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      53 

considers  it  to  be  of  pre-eminent  importance 
that  the  existing  associations  of  producers  and 
distributers  of  foodstuffs  should  be  mobilized 
and  made  use  of  on  a  volunteer  basis.  The 
successful  conduct  of  the  projected  food  ad- 
ministration, by  such  means,  will  be  the  finest 
possible  demonstration  of  the  willingness,  the 
ability  and  the  efficiency  of  democracy  and  of 
its  justified  reHance  upon  the  freedom  of  indi- 
vidual initiative. 

The  last  thing  that  any  American  could  con- 
template with  equanimity  would  be  the  intro- 
duction of  anything  resembling  Prussian  au- 
tocracy into  the  food  control  of  this  country. 

It  i^  of  vital  interest  and  importance  to  every 
man  who  produces  food  and  to  every  man  who 
takes  part  in  its  distribution  that  these  policies, 
thus  Liberally  administered,  should  succeed  and 
succeed  altogether.  It  is  only  in  that  way  that 
we  can  prove  it  to  be  absolutely  unnecessary 
to  resort  to  the  rigorous  and  drastic  measures 
which  have  proved  to  be  necessary  in  some  of 
the  European  countries. 


VII 

AN  ANSWER  TO  CRITICS 
{May  22,  1917) 

In  the  following  letter,  addressed  to  Repre- 
sentative Hefiin,  Democrat,  of  Alabama,  Presi- 
dent Wilson  replies  to  criticisms  regarding  his 
position  with  regard  to  the  war  and  its  objects : 

It  is  incomprehensible  to  me  how  any  frank 
or  honest  person  could  doubt  or  question  my 
position  with  regard  to  the  war  and  its  ob- 
jects. I  have  again  and  again  stated  the  very 
serious  and  long-continued  wrongs  which  the 
Imperial  German  Government  has  perpetrated 
against  the  rights,  the  commerce  and  the  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States.  The  list  is  long  and 
overwhelming.  No  Nation  that  respected  it- 
self or  the  rights  of  humanity  could  have  borne 
those  wrongs  any  longer. 

Our  objects  in  going  into  the  war  have  been 
stated  with  equal  clearness.  The  whole  of  the 
conception  which  I  take  to  be  the  conception 
of  our  fellow-countrymen  with  regard  to  the 
outcome  of  the  war  and  the  terms  of  its  settle- 
ment, I  set  forth  with  the  utmost  explicitness 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      55 

in  an  address  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
on  the  2 2d  of  January  last.  Again,  in  my  mes- 
sage to  Congress  on  the  2d  of  April  last,  those 
objects  were  stated  in  unmistakable  terms. 

I  can  conceive  no  purpose  in  seeking  to  be- 
cloud this  matter  except  the  purpose  of  weak- 
ening the  hands  of  the  Government  and  mak- 
ing the  part  which  the  United  States  is  to  play 
in  this  great  struggle  for  human  Hbeirty  an  in- 
efficient and  hesitating  part. 

We  have  entered  the  war  for  our  own  rea- 
sons and  with  our  own  objects  clearly  stated, 
and  shall  forget  neither  the  reasons  nor  the 
objects.  There  is  no  hate  in  our  hearts  for 
the  German  people,  but  there  is  a  resolve 
which  cannot  be  shaken  even  by  misrepre- 
sentation, to  overcome  the  pretensions  5f  the 
autocratic  Government  which  acts  upon  pur- 
poses to  which  the  German  people  have  never 
consented. 

5 


VIII 

MEMORIAL  DAY  ADDRESS 
{May  30,  1917) 

In  one  sense  the  great  struggle  into  which  we 
have  now  entered  is  an  American  struggle, 
because  it  is  in  defense  of  American  honor  and 
American  rights,  but  it  is  something  even 
greater  than  that;  it  is  a  WQrld__struggle^^It 
is  the  struggle  of  men  who  love  liberty  every" 
where,  and  in  this  cause  America  will  show 
herself  greater  than  ever  because  she  will  rise 
to  a  greater  thing. 

The  program  has  conferred  an  unmerited 
dignity  upon  the  remarks  I  am  going  to  make 
by  calling  them  an  address,  because  I  am 
not  here  to  deliver  an  address  [said  the  Presi- 
dent]. I  am  here  merely  to  show  in  my  offi- 
cial capacity  the  sympathy  of  this  great  Gov- 
ernment with  the  object  of  this  occasion,  and 
also  to  speak  just  a  word  of  the  sentiment  that 
is  in  my  own  heart. 

Any  memorial  day  of  this  sort  is,  of  course, 
a  day  touched  with  sorrowful  memory,  and 
yet  I  for  one  do  not  see  how  we  can  have  any 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      57 

thought  of  pity  for  the  men  whose^  memory  we 
honor  to-day.  I  do  not  pity  them.  I  envy 
them,  rather,  because  their  great  work  for  lib- 
erty is  accompHshed,  and  we  are  in  the  midst 
of  a  work  unfinished,  testing  our  strength  where 
their  strength  already  has  been  tested. 

A   HERITAGE    FROM   THE   DEAD 

There  is  a  touch  of  sorrow,  but  there  is  a 
touch  of  reassurance  also  in  a  day  Hke  this, 
because  we  know  how  the  men  of  America 
have  responded  to  the  call  of  the  cause  of  lib- 
erty, and  it  fills  our  mind  with  a  perfect  asstu*- 
ance  that  that  response  will  come  again  in  equal 
measures,  with  equal  majesty  and  with  a  result 
which  will  hold  the  attention  of  all  mankind. 

When  you  reflect  upon  it,  these  men  who 
died  to  preserve  the  Union  died  to  preserve 
the  instrument  which  we  are  now  using  to 
serve  the  world — a  free  nation  espousing  the 
cause  of  himian  liberty.  In  one  sense  the 
great  struggle  into  which  we  have  now  entered 
is  an  American  struggle,  because  it  is  in  the 
sense  of  American  honor  and  American  rights, 
but  it  is  something  even  greater  than  that; 
it  is  a  world  struggle.  It  is  a  struggle  of  men 
who  love  liberty  everywhere ;  and  in  this  cause 
America  will  show  herself  greater  than  ever 
because  she  will  rise  to  a  greater  thing. 

We  have  said  in  the  beginning  that  we 
planned  this  great  Government  that  men  who 


S8      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

wish  freedom  might  have  a  place  of  refuge  and 
a  place  where  their  hope  could  be  realized, 
and  now,  having  established  such  a  Govern- 
ment, having  preserved  such  a  Government, 
having  vindicated  the  power  of  such  a  Gov- 
ernment, we  are  saying  to  all  mankind,  "We 
did  not  set  this  Government  up  in  order  that 
we  might  have  a  selfish  and  separate  liberty, 
for  we  are  now  ready  to  come  to  your  assist- 
ance and  fight  out  upon  the  fields  of  the 
world  the  cause  of  human  liberty." 

America's  full  fruition 

In  this  thing  America  attains  her  full  dig- 
nity and  the  full  fruition  of  her  great  purpose. 

No  man  can  be  glad  that  such  things  have 
happened  as  we  have  witnessed  in  these  last 
fateful  years,  but  perhaps  it  may  be  permitted 
to  us  to  be  glad  that  we  have  an  opportunity 
to  show  the  principles  which  we  profess  to  be 
living — ^principles  which  live  in  our  hearts — 
and  to  have  a  chance  by  the  pouring  out  of  otu- 
blood  and  treasure  to  vindicate  the  things 
which  we  have  professed.  For,  my  friends, 
the  real  fruition  of  life  is  to  do  the  things  we 
have  said  we  wished  to  do.  There  are  times 
when  words  seem  empty  and  only  action  seems 
great.  Such  a  time  has  come,  and  in  the 
providence  of  God  America  will  once  more 
have  an  opportunity  to  show  to  the  world  that 
she  was  born  to  serve  mankind. 


IX 

A  STATEMENT  TO  RUSSIA 
{June  9t  1917) 

In  view  of  the  approaching  visit  of  the  Amer- 
ican delegation  to  Russia  to  express  the  deep 
friendship  of  the  American  people  for  the  people 
of  Russia  and  to  discuss  the  best  and  most 
practical  means  of  co-operation  between  the 
two  peoples  in  carrying  the  present  struggle 
for  the  freedom  of  all  peoples  to  a  successful 
consummation,  it  seems  opportune  and  appro- 
priate that  I  should  state  again,  in  the  light  of 
this  new  partnership,  the  objects  the  United 
States  has  had  in  mind  in  entering  the  war. 
Those  objects  have  been  very  much  beclouded 
during  the  past  few  weeks  by  mistaken  and 
misleading  statements,  and  the  issues  at  stake 
are  too  momentous,  too  tremendous,  too  sig- 
nificant for  the  whole  human  race  to  permit 
any  misinterpretations  or  misunderstandings, 
however  slight,  to  remain  uncorrected  for  a 
moment. 

The  war  has  begun  to  go  against  Germany, 
and  in  their  desperate  desire  to  escape  the  in- 


6o      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

evitable  ultimate  defeat,  those  who  are  in  au- 
thority in  Germany  are  using  every  possible 
instrumentality,  are  making  use  even  of  the 
influence  of  groups  and  parties  among  their 
own  subjects  to  whom  they  have  never  been 
just  or  fair,  or  even  tolerant,  to  promote  a 
propaganda  on  both  sides  of  the  sea  which  will 
preserve  for  them  their  influence  at  home  and 
their  power  abroad,  to  the  undoing  of  the  very 
men  they  are  using. 

AMERICA   SEEKS   NO    CONQUEST 

The  position  of  America  in  this  war  is  so 
clearly  avowed  that  no  man  can  be  excused 
for  mistaking  it.  She  seeks  no  material  profit 
or  aggrandizement  of  any  kind.  She  is  fight- 
ing for  no  advantage  or  selfish  object  of  her 
own,  but  for  the  liberation  of  peoples  every- 
where from  the  aggressions  of  autocratic  force. 
The  ruling  classes  in  Germany  have  begun  of 
late  to  profess  a  like  liberality  and  justice  of 
purpose,  but  only  to  preserve  the  power  they 
have  set  up  in  Germany  and  the  selfish  advan- 
tages which  they  have  wrongly  gained  for  them- 
selves and  their  private  projects  of  power  all 
the  way  from  Berlin  to  Bagdad  and  beyond. 
Government  after  Government  has,  by  their 
influence,  without  open  conquest  of  its  terri- 
tory, been  linked  together  in  a  net  of  intrigue 
directed  against  nothing  less  than  the  peace 
and  liberty  of  the  world.     The  meshes  of  that 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      6i 

intrigue  must  be  broken,  but  cannot  be  broken 
unless  wrongs  already  done  are  undone;  and 
adequate  measures  must  be  taken  to  prevent 
it  from  ever  again  being  rewoven  or  repaired. 

Of  course  the  Imperial  German  Government 
and  those  whom  it  is  using  for  their  own  undo- 
ing are  seeking  to  obtain  pledges  that  the  war 
will  end  in  the  restoration  of  the  status  quo 
ante.  It  was  the  status  quo  ante  out  of  which 
this  iniquitous  war  issued  forth,  the  power  of 
the  Imperial  German  Government  within  the 
empire  and  its  widespread  domination  and  in- 
fluence outside  of  that  empire.  That  status 
must  be  altered  in  such  fashion  as  to  prevent  any- 
such  hideous  thing  from  ever  happening  again. 

THE    PRINCIPLES   THAT  ARE   INVOLVED 

We  are  fighting  for  the  liberty,  self-govern- 
ment and  the  undictated  development  of  all 
peoples,  and  every  feature  of  the  settlement 
that  concludes  this  war  must  be  conceived  and 
executed  for  that  purpose.  Wrongs  must  first 
be  righted  and  then  adequate  safeguards  must 
be  created  to  prevent  their  being  committed 
again.  We  ought  not  to  consider  remedies 
merely  because  they  have  a  pleasing  and  sonor- 
ous sound.  Practical  questions  can  be  settled 
only  by  practical  means.  Phrases  will  not  ac- 
complish the  result.  Effective  readjustments 
will;  and  whatever  readjustments  are  neces- 
sary must  be  made. 


62      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

But  they  must  follow  a  principle,  and  that 
principle  is  plain: 

No  people  must  be  forced  under  sovereignty 
under  which  it  does  not  wish  to  live. 

No  territory  must  change  hands  except  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  those  who  inhabit  it  a 
fair  chance  of  life  and  liberty. 

No  indemnities  must  be  insisted  on  except 
those  that  constitute  payment  for  manifest 
wrongs  done. 

No  readjustments  of  power  must  be  made 
except  such  as  will  tend  to  secure  the  future 
peace  of  the  world  and  the  future  welfare  and 
happiness  of  its  peoples. 

And  then  the  free  peoples  of  the  world  must 
draw  together  in  some  common  covenant,  some 
genuine  and  practical  co-operation,  that  will  in 
effect  combine  their  force  to  secure  peace  and 
justice  in  the  dealings  of  nations  with  one 
another.  The  brotherhood  of  mankind  must 
no  longer  be  a  fair  but  empty  phrase;  it  must 
be  given  a  structure  of  force  and  reality.  The 
nations  must  realize  their  common  life  and  ef- 
fect a  workable  partnership  to  secure  that  life 
against  the  aggressions  of  autocratic  and  self- 
pleasing  power. 

For  these  things  we  can  affora  to  pour  out 
blood  and  treasure.  For  these  are  the  things  we 
have  always  professed  to  desire,  and  unless  we 
pour  out  blood  and  treasure  now  and  succeed, 
we  may  never  be  able  to  tmite  or  show  con- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      63 

quering  force  again  in  the  great  cause  of  hu- 
man liberty.  The  day  has  come  to  conquer  or 
submit.  If  the  forces  of  autocracy  can  divide 
us,  they  will  overcome  us ;  if  we  stand  together, 
victory  is  certain  and  the  liberty  which  victory 
will  secure. 

We  can  afford,  then,  to  be  generous,  but  we 
cannot  afford  then  or  now  to  be  weak  or  omit 
any  single  guarantee  of  justice  and  security. 


X 

FLAG-DAY  ADDRESS 
{June  14,  1 917) 

My  Fellow-citizens, — We  meet  to  cele- 
brate Flag  Day  because  this  flag  which  we 
honor  and  under  which  we  serve  is  the  emblem 
of  our  unity,  our  power,  our  thought  and  pur- 
pose as  a  nation.  It  has  no  other  character 
than  that  which  we  give  it  from  generation  to 
generation.  The  choices  are  ours.  It  floats 
in  majestic  silence  above  the  hosts  that  exe- 
cute those  choices,  whether  in  peace  or  in  war. 
And  yet,  though  silent,  it  speaks  to  us — 
speaks  to  us  of  the  past,  of  the  men  and  women 
who  went  before  us  and  of  the  records  they 
wrote  upon  it.  We  celebrate  the  day  of  its 
birth ;  and  from  its  birth  until  now  it  has  wit- 
nessed a  great  history,  has  floated  on  high  the 
symbol  of  great  events,  of  a  great  plan  of  life 
worked  out  by  a  great  people.  We  are  about 
to  carry  it  into  battle,  to  lift  it  where  it  will 
draw  the  fire  of  our  enemies.  We  are  about  to 
bid  thousands,  hundreds  of  thousands,  it  may 
be  millions,  of  our  men — the  young,  the  strong, 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      65 

the  capable  men  of  the  nation — to  go  forth 
and  die  beneath  it  on  fields  of  blood  far  away — 
for  what?  For  some  unaccustomed  thing?  For 
something  for  which  it  has  never  sought  the 
fire  before?  American  armies  were  never  be- 
fore sent  across  the  seas.  Why  are  they  sent 
now?  For  some  new  purpose,  for  which  this 
great  flag  has  never  been  carried  before,  or  for 
some  old,  familiar,  heroic  purpose  for  which  it 
has  seen  men,  its  own  men,  die  on  every  battle- 
field upon  which  Americans  have  borne  arms 
since  the  Revolution? 

These  are  questions  which  must  be  answered. 
We  are  Americans.  We  in  our  turn  serve 
America,  and  can  serve  her  with  no  private 
purpose.  We  must  use  her  flag  as  she  has  al- 
ways used  it.  We  are  accountable  at  the  bar 
of  history  and  must  plead  in  utter  frankness 
what  purpose  it  is  we  seek  to  serve. 

WHY   WE    ARE    AT   WAR 

It  is  plain  enough  how  we  were  forced  into 
the  war.  The  extraordinary  insults  and  ag- 
gressions of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
left  us  no  self-respecting  choice  but  to  take  up 
arms  in  defense  of  our  rights  as  a  free  people 
and  of  our  honor  as  a  sovereign  Government. 
The  military  masters  of  Germany  denied  us 
the  right  to  be  neutral.  They  filled  our  unsus- 
pecting communities  with  vicious  spies  and 
conspirators  and  sought  to  corrupt  the  opinion 


66      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

of  our  people  in  their  own  behalf.  When  they 
found  that  they  could  not  do  that,  their  agents 
diligently  spread  sedition  among  us  and  sought 
to  draw  our  own  citizens  from  their  allegiance 
— and  some  of  those  agents  were  men  con- 
nected with  the  official  embassy  of  the  Ger- 
man Government  itself  here  in  our  own  capital. 
They  sought  by  violence  to  destroy  our  own 
industries  and  arrest  our  commerce.  They 
tried  to  incite  Mexico  to  take  up  arms  against 
us  and  to  draw  Japan  into  a  hostile  alliance 
with  her — and  that,  not  by  indirection,  but  by 
direct  suggestion  from  the  Foreign  Office  in  Ber- 
lin. They  impudently  denied  us  the  use  of  the 
seas  and  repeatedly  executed  their  threat  that 
they  would  send  to  their  death  anyof  oiu*  people 
who  ventured  to  approach  the  coasts  of  Eu- 
rope. And  many  of  our  own  people  were  cor- 
rupted. Men  began  to  look  upon  their  own 
neighbors  with  suspicion  and  to  wonder,  in 
their  hot  resentment  and  surprise,  whether 
there  was  any  community  in  which  hostile  in- 
trigue did  not  lurk.  What  great  nation,  in 
such  circumstances,  would  not  have  taken  up 
arms?  Much  as  we  had  desired  peace,  it  was 
denied  us,  and  not  of  our  own  choice.  This 
flag  under  which  we  serve  would  have  been 
dishonored  had  we  withheld  our  hand. 

But  that  is  only  part  of  the  story.  We 
know  now  as  clearly  as  we  knew  before  we 
were  ourselves  engaged  that  we  axe  not  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      Gj 

enemies  of  the  German  people  and  that  they 
are  not  our  enemies.  They  did  not  originate 
or  desire  this  hideous  war  or  wish  that  we 
should  be  drawn  into  it;  and  we  are  vaguely 
conscious  that  we  are  fighting  their  cause,  as 
they  will  some  day  see  it,  as  well  as  our  own. 
They  are  themselves  in  the  grip  of  the  same 
sinister  power  that  has  now  at  last  stretched 
its  ugly  talons  out  and  drawn  blood  from  us. 
The  whole  world  is  at  war  because  the  whole 
world  is  in  the  grip  of  that  power  and  is  trying 
out  the  great  battle  which  shall  determine 
whether  it  is  to  be  brought  under  its  mastery 
or  fling  itself  free. 

THE    RESPONSIBILITY   FOR  THE    CONFLICT 

The  war  was  begun  by  the  military  masters 
of  Germany,  who  proved  to  be  also  the  masters 
of  Austria-Hungary.  These  men  have  never 
regarded  nations  as  peoples,  men,  women 
and  children  of  like  blood  and  frame  as  them- 
selves, for  whom  governments  existed  and  in 
whom  governments  had  their  life.  They  have 
regarded  them  merely  as  serviceable  organiza- 
tions which  they  could  by  force  or  intrigue 
bend  or  corrupt  to  their  own  purpose.  They 
have  regarded  the  smaller  states,  in  particular, 
and  the  peoples  who  could  be  overwhelmed  by 
force,  as  their  natural  tools  and  instruments  of 
domination.  Their  purpose  has  long  been 
avowed.     The  statesmen  of  other  nations,  to 


68      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

whom  that  purpose  was  incredible,  paid  Httle 
attention;  regarded  what  German  professors 
expounded  in  their  class-rooms  and  German 
writers  set  forth  to  the  world  as  the  goal  of 
German  policy  as  rather  the  dream  of  minds 
detached  from  practical  affairs,  as  preposterous 
private  conceptions  of  German  destiny,  than  as 
the  actual  plans  of  responsible  rulers;  but  the 
rulers  of  Germany  themselves  knew  all  the 
while  what  concrete  plans,  what  well-advanced 
intrigues,  lay  back  of  what  the  professors  and 
the  writers  were  saying,  and  were  glad  to  go 
forward  unmolested,  filling  the  thrones  of  Bal- 
kan states  with  German  princes,  putting  Ger- 
man officers  at  the  service  of  Turkey  to  drill 
her  armies  and  make  interest  with  her  Gov- 
ernment, developing  plans  of  sedition  and  re- 
bellion in  India  and  Egypt,  setting  their  fires 
in  Persia.  The  demands  made  by  Austria  upon 
Serbia  were  a  mere  single  step  in  a  plan  which 
compassed  Europe  and  Asia,  from  BerHn  to 
Bagdad.  They  hoped  those  demands  might 
not  arouse  Europe,  but  they  meant  to  press 
them  whether  they  did  or  not,  for  they  thought 
themselves  ready  for  the  final  issue  of  arms. 

THE    PLAN    OF    CONQUEST 

Their  plan  was  to  throw  a  broad  belt  of  Ger- 
man military  power  and  political  control  across 
the  very  center  of  Europe  and  beyond  the  Med- 
iterranean into  the  very  heart  of  Asia;  and 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      69 

Austria-Hungary  was  to  be  as  much  their  tool 
and  pawn  as  Serbia  or  Bulgaria  or  Turkey  or 
the  ponderous  states  of  the  East.  Austria- 
Hungary,  indeed,  was  to  become  part  of  the 
central  German  Empire,  absorbed  and  domi- 
nated by  the  same  forces  and  influences  that 
had  originally  cemented  the  German  states 
themselves.  The  dream  had  its  heart  at  Ber- 
lin. It  could  have  had  a  heart  nowhere  else! 
It  rejected  the  idea  of  solidarity  of  race  entirely. 
The  choice  of  peoples  played  no  part  in  it  at 
all.  It  contemplated  binding  together  racial 
and  political  units  which  could  be  kept  together 
only  by  force — Czechs,  Magyars,  Croats,  Serbs, 
Rumanians,  Turks,  Armenians — the  proud 
states  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  the  stout  little 
commonwealths  of  the  Balkans,  the  indomi- 
table Turks,  the  subtile  peoples  of  the  East. 
These  peoples  did  not  wish  to  be  united.  They 
ardently  desired  to  direct  their  own  affairs, 
would  be  satisfied  only  by  undisputed  inde- 
pendence. They  could  be  kept  quiet  only  by 
the  presence  or  the  constant  threat  of  armed 
men.  They  would  live  under  a  common  power 
only  by  sheer  compulsion  and  await  the  day  of 
revolution.  But  the  German  military  states- 
men had  reckoned  with  all  that  and  were 
ready  to  deal  with  it  in  their  own  way. 

And  they  have  actually  carried  the  greater 
part  of  that  amazing  plan  into  execution! 
Look  how  things  stand.    Austria  is  at  their 


70      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

mercy.  It  has  acted,  not  upon  its  own  initia- 
tive or  upon  the  choice  of  its  own  people,  but 
at  Berlin's  dictation,  ever  since  the  war  began. 
Its  people  now  desire  peace,  but  cannot  have 
it  until  leave  is  granted  from  Berlin.  The  so- 
called  Central  Powers  are,  in  fact,  but  a  single 
Power.  Serbia  is  at  its  mercy,  should  its 
hand  be  but  for  a  moment  freed.  Bulgaria 
has  consented  to  its  will,  and  Rumania  is 
overrun.  The  Turkish  armies,  which  Germans 
trained,  are  serving  Germany,  certainly  not 
themselves,  and  the  guns  of  German  warships 
lying  in  the  harbor  at  Constantinople  remind 
Turkish  statesmen  every  day  that  they  have 
no  choice  but  to  take  their  orders  from  Berlin. 
From  Hamburg  to  the  Persian  Gulf  the  net  is 
spread. 

THE  TALK  OF  PEACE 

Is  it  not  easy  to  understand  the  eagerness 
for  peace  that  has  been  manifested  from  Berlin 
ever  since  the  snare  was  set  and  sprung? 
Peace,  peace,  peace  has  been  the  talk  of  her 
Foreign  Office  for  now  a  year  and  more;  not 
peace  upon  her  own  initiative,  but  upon  the 
initiative  of  the  nations  over  which  she  now 
deems  herself  to  hold  the  advantage.  A  little 
of  the  talk  has  been  public,  but  most  of  it  has 
been  private.  Through  all  sorts  of  channels  it 
has  come  to  me,  and  in  all  sorts  of  guises,  but 
never  with  the  terms  disclosed  which  the  Ger- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      71 

man  Government  would  be  willing  to  accept. 
That  Government  has  other  valuable  pawns 
in  its  hands  besides  those  I  have  mentioned. 
It  still  holds  a  valuable  part  of  France,  though 
with  slowly  relaxing  grasp,  and  practically  the 
whole  of  Belgium.  Its  armies  press  close  upon 
Russia  and  overrun  Poland  at  their  will.  It 
cannot  go  farther;  it  dare  not  go  back.  It 
wishes  to  close  its  bargain  before  it  is  too  late, 
and  it  has  little  left  to  offer  for  the  pound  of 
flesh  it  will  demand. 

The  military  masters  under  whom  Germany 
is  bleeding  see  very  clearly  to  what  point  Fate 
has  brought  them.  If  they  fall  back  or  are 
forced  back  an  inch,  their  power  both  abroad 
and  at  home  will  fall  to  pieces  like  a  house  of 
cards.  It  is  their  power  at  home  they  are 
thinking  about  now  more  than  their  power 
abroad.  It  is  that  power  which  is  trembling 
under  their  very  feet;  and  deep  fear  has  en- 
tered their  hearts.  They  have  but  one  chance 
to  perpetuate  their  military  power,  or  even 
their  controlling  political  influence.  If  they 
can  secure  peace  now,  with  the  immense  ad- 
vantages still  in  their  hands  which  they  have 
up  to  this  point  apparently  gained,  they  will 
have  justified  themselves  before  the  German 
people;  they  will  have  gained  by  force  what 
they  promised  to  gain  by  it — an  immense  ex- 
pansion of  German  power,  an  immense  enlarge- 
ment of  German  industrial  and  commercial 

6 


72      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

opportunities.  Their  prestige  will  be  secure, 
and  with  their  prestige  their  political  power. 
If  they  fail,  their  people  will  thrust  them  aside; 
a  government  accountable  to  the  people  them- 
selves will  be  set  up  in  Germany,  as  it  has  been 
in  England,  in  the  United  States,  in  France, 
and  in  all  the  great  countries  of  the  modem 
time  except  Germany.  If  they  succeed  they 
are  safe  and  Germany  and  the  world  are  un- 
done; if  they  fail  Germany  is  saved  and  the 
world  will  be  at  peace.  If  they  succeed,  Amer- 
ica will  fall  within  the  menace.  We  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  must  remain  armed,  as 
they  will  remain,  and  must  make  ready  for  the 
next  step  in  their  aggression;  if  they  fail,  the 
world  may  unite  for  peace  and  Germany  may 
be  of  the  union. 

THE  PRESENT  AIM   OP   GERMANY 

Do  you  not  now  understand  the  new  intrigue, 
the  intrigue  for  peace,  and  why  the  masters  of 
Germany  do  not  hesitate  to  use  any  agency 
that  promises  to  effect  their  purpose,  the  de- 
ceit of  the  nations?  Their  present  particular 
aim  is  to  deceive  all  those  who  throughout  the 
world  stand  for  the  rights  of  peoples  and  the 
self-government  of  nations;  for  they  see  what 
immense  strength  the  forces  of  justice  and  of 
liberalism  are  gathering  out  of  this  war.  They 
are  employing  liberals  in  their  enterprise.  They 
are  using  men,  in  Germany  and  without,  as 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      73 

their  spokesmen  whom  they  have  hitherto  de- 
spised and  oppressed,  using  them  for  their  own 
destruction — sociaUsts,  the  leaders  of  labor, 
the  thinkers  they  have  hitherto  sought  to  si- 
lence. Let  them  once  succeed  and  these  men, 
now  their  tools,  will  be  ground  to  powder  be- 
neath the  weight  of  the  great  military  empire 
they  will  have  set  up;  the  revolutionists  in 
Russia  will  be  cut  off  from  all  succor  or  co- 
operation in  western  Europe  and  a  counter 
revolution  fostered  and  supported;  Germany 
herself  will  lose  her  chance  of  freedom ;  and  all 
Europe  will  arm  for  the  next,  the  final  struggle. 
The  sinister  intrigue  is  being  no  less  actively 
conducted  in  this  country  than  in  Russia,  and 
in  every  country  in  Europe  to  which  the  agents 
and  dupes  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment can  get  access.  That  Government  has 
many  spokesmen  here,  in  places  high  and  low. 
They  have  learned  discretion.  They  keep 
within  the  law.  It  is  opinion  they  utter  now, 
not  sedition.  They  proclaim  the  liberal  pur- 
poses of  their  masters;  declare  this  a  foreign 
war  which  can  touch  America  with  no  danger 
to  either  her  lands  or  her  institutions ;  set  Eng- 
land at  the  center  of  the  stage  and  talk  of  her 
ambition  to  assert  economic  dominion  through- 
out the  world;  appeal  to  our  ancient  tradition 
of  isolation  in  the  politics  of  the  nations;  and 
seek  to  undermine  the  Government  with  false 
professions  of  loyalty  to  its  principles. 


74      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

THIS  IS   A   PEOPLES*   WAR 

But  they  will  make  no  headway.  The  false 
betray  themselves  always  in  every  accent.  It 
is  only  friends  and  partisans  of  the  German 
Government  whom  we  have  already  identified 
who  utter  these  thinly  disguised  disloyalties. 
The  facts  are  patent  to  all  the  world,  and  no- 
where are  they  more  plainly  seen  than  in  the 
United  States,  where  we  are  accustomed  to 
deal  with  facts  and  not  with  sophistries;  and 
the  great  fact  that  stands  out  above  all  the  rest 
is  that  this  is  a  Peoples'  War,  a  war  for  free- 
dom and  justice  and  self-government  amongst 
all  the  nations  of  the  world,  a  war  to  make  the 
world  safe  for  the  peoples  who  live  in  it  and 
have  made  it  their  own,  the  German  people 
themselves  included;  and  that  with  us  rests 
the  choice  to  break  through  all  these  hypocri- 
sies and  patent  cheats  and  masks  of  brute 
force  and  help  set  the  world  free,  or  else  stand 
aside  and  let  it  be  dominated  a  long  age  through 
by  sheer  weight  of  arms  and  the  arbitrary 
choices  of  self -constituted  masters,  by  the  na- 
tion which  can  maintain  the  biggest  armies 
and  the  most  irresistible  armaments — a  power 
to  which  the  world  has  afforded  no  parallel 
and  in  the  face  of  which  political  freedom  must 
wither  and  perish. 

For  us  there  is  but  one  choice.  We  have 
made  it.    Woe  be  to  the  man  or  group  of  men 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      75 

that  seeks  to  stand  in  our  way  in  this  day  of 
high  resolution,  when  every  principle  we  hold 
dearest  is  to  be  vindicated  and  made  secure 
for  the  salvation  of  the  nations.  We  are  ready 
to  plead  at  the  bar  of  history,  and  our  flag 
shall  wear  a  new  luster.  Once  more  we  shall 
make  good  with  our  lives  and  fortunes  the 
great  faith  to  which  we  were  bom,  and  a  new 
glory  shall  shine  in  the  face  of  our  people. 


XI 


AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  BUSINESS  INTERESTS 
{July  II,  1917) 

My  Fellow-countrymen, — The  Govern- 
ment is  about  to  attempt  to  determine  the 
prices  at  which  it  will  ask  you  henceforth  to 
furnish  various  supplies  which  are  necessary 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  various 
materials  which  will  be  needed  in  the  indus- 
tries by  which  the  war  must  be  sustained. 

We  shall,  of  course,  try  to  determine  them 
justly  and  to  the  best  advantage  of  the  nation 
as  a  whole.  But  justice  is  easier  to  speak  of 
than  to  arrive  at,  and  there  are  some  consid- 
erations which  I  hope  we  shall  keep  steadily  in 
mind  while  this  particular  problem  of  justice 
is  being  worked  out. 

I  therefore  take  the  liberty  of  stating  very 
candidly  my  own  view  of  the  situation  and 
of  the  principles  which  should  guide  both 
the  Government  and  the  mine -owners  and 
manufacturers  of  the  country  in  this  difficult 
matter, 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      77 

PATRIOTISM   AND  PROFITS  APART 

A  just  price  must,  of  course,  be  paid  for 
everything  the  Government  buys.  By  a  just 
price  I  mean  a  price  which  will  sustain  the  in- 
dustries concerned  in  a  high  state  of  efficiency, 
provide  a  living  for  those  who  conduct  them, 
enable  them  to  pay  good  wages,  and  make  pos- 
sible the  expansions  of  their  enterprises,  which 
will  from  time  to  time  become  necessary  as 
the  stupendous  undertakings  of  this  great  war 
develop. 

We  could  not  wisely  or  reasonably  do  less 
than  pay  such  prices.  They  are  necessary  for 
the  maintenance  and  development  of  industry; 
and  the  maintenance  and  development  of  in- 
dustry are  necessary  for  the  great  task  we  have 
in  hand. 

But  I  trust  that  we  shall  not  surround  the 
matter  with  a  mist  of  sentiment.  Facts  are 
our  masters  now.  We  ought  not  to  put  the 
acceptance  of  such  prices  on  the  ground  of 
patriotism.  Patriotism  has  nothing  to  do 
with  profits  in  a  case  like  this.  Patriotism 
and  profits  ought  never  in  the  present  circum- 
stances to  be  mentioned  together. 

It  is  perfectly  proper  to  discuss  profits  as  a 
matter  of  business,  with  a  view  to  maintaining 
the  integrity  of  capital  and  the  efficiency  of 
labor  in  these  tragical  months,  when  the  lib- 
erty of  free  men  everywhere  and  of  industry 


78       IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

itself  trembles  in  the  balance,  but  it  would  be 
absurd  to  discuss  them  as  a  motive  for  helping 
to  serve  and  save  our  country. 

Patriotism  leaves  profits  out  of  the  question. 
In  these  days  of  our  supreme  trial,  when  we 
are  sending  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  young 
men  across  the  seas  to  serve  a  great  cause,  no 
true  man  who  stays  behind  to  work  for  them 
and  sustain  them  by  his  labor  will  ask  himself 
what  he  is  personally  going  to  make  out  of 
that  labor. 

No  true  patriot  will  permit  himself  to  take 
toll  of  their  heroism  in  money  or  seek  to  grow 
rich  by  the  shedding  of  their  blood.  He  will 
give  as  freely  and  with  as  unstinted  self-sacri- 
fice as  they.  When  they  are  giving  their  lives, 
will  he  not  at  least  give  his  money? 

I  hear  it  insisted  that  more  than  a  just 
price,  more  than  a  price  that  will  sustain 
our  industries,  must  be  paid;  that  it  is 
necessary  to  pay  very  liberal  and  imusual 
profits  in  order  to  ** stimulate  production," 
that  nothing  but  pecuniary  rewards  will  do — 
rewards  paid  in  money,  not  in  the  mere 
liberation  of  the  world. 

IS   A   BRIBE   NECESSARY? 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  those  who  argue 
thus  do  not  stop  to  think  what  that  means. 
Do  they  mean  that  you  must  be  paid,  must  be 
bribed,  to  make  your  contribution,  a  contribu- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      79 

tion  that  costs  you  neither  a  drop  of  blood, 
nor  a  tear,  when  the  whole  world  is  in  travail 
and  men  everywhere  depend  upon  and  call  to 
you  to  bring  them  out  of  bondage  and  make 
the  world  a  fit  place  to  live  in  again  amidst 
peace  and  justice? 

Do  they  mean  that  you  will  exact  a  price, 
drive  a  bargain,  with  the  men  who  are  endur- 
ing the  agony  of  this  war  on  the  battlefield,  in 
the  trenches,  amid  the  lurking  dangers  of  the 
sea,  or  with  the  bereaved  women  and  pitiful 
children,  before  you  will  come  forward  to  do 
your  duty  and  give  some  part  of  your  life,  in 
easy,  peaceful  fashion,  for  the  things  we  are 
fighting  for,  the  things  we  have  pledged  our 
fortunes,  our  lives,  our  sacred  honor,  to  vindi- 
cate and  defend — liberty  and  justice  and  fair 
dealing  and  the  peace  of  nations  ? 

Of  course  you  will  not.  It  is  inconceivable. 
Your  patriotism  is  of  the  same  self-denying 
stuff  as  the  patriotism  of  the  men  dead  or 
maimed  on  the  fields  of  France,  or  else  it  is  no 
patriotism  at  all.  Let  us  never  speak,  then,  of 
profits  and  of  patriotism  in  the  same  sentence, 
but  face  facts  and  meet  them.  Let  us  do 
sound  business,  but  not  in  the  midst  of  a 
mist. 

Many  a  grievous  burden  of  taxation  will 
be  laid  on  this  Nation,  in  this  generation 
and  in  the  next,  to  pay  for  this  war;  let 
us   see   to  it  that   for   every  dollar  that   is 


8o      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

taken  from  the  people's  pockets  it  shall  be 
possible  to  obtain  a  dollar's  worth  of  the 
sound  stuffs  they  need. 

HIGH    FREIGHTS   AID   GERMANY 

Let  us  for  a  moment  turn  to  the  ship-owners 
of  the  United  States  and  the  other  ocean  car- 
riers whose  example  they  have  followed,  and 
ask  them  if  they  realize  what  obstacles,  what 
almost  insuperable  obstacles,  they  have  been 
putting  in  the  way  of  the  successful  prosecu- 
tion of  this  war  by  the  ocean  freight  rates  they 
have  been  exacting. 

They  are  doing  everything  that  high  freight 
charges  can  do  to  make  the  war  a  failure,  to 
make  it  impossible.  I  do  not  say  that  they 
realize  this  or  intend  it. 

The  thing  has  happened  naturally  enough, 
because  the  commercial  processes  which  we  are 
content  to  see  operate  in  ordinary  times  have 
without  sufficient  thought  been  continued  into 
a  period  where  they  have  no  proper  place.  I 
am  not  questioning  motives.  I  am  merely 
stating  a  fact,  and  stating  it  in  order  that 
attention  may  be  fixed  upon  it. 

The  fact  is  that  those  who  have  fixed  war 
freight  rates  have  taken  the  most  effective 
means  in  their  power  to  defeat  the  armies  en- 
gaged against  Germany.  When  they  realize 
this  we  may,  I  take  it  for  granted,  count  upon 
them  to  reconsider  the  whole  matter.     It  is 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       8i 

high  time.     Their  extra  hazards  are  covered  by 
war-risk  insurance. 

THE   LAW  TO   DEAL  WITH   OFFENDERS 

I  know,  and  you  know,  what  response  to 
this  great  challenge  of  duty  and  of  opportu- 
nity the  riation  will  expect  of  you;  and  I  know 
what  response  you  will  make.  Those  who  do 
not  respond,  who  do  not  respond  in  the  spirit 
of  those  who  have  gone  to  give  their  lives  for 
us  on  bloody  fields  far  away,  may  safely  be  left 
to  be  dealt  with  by  opinion  and  the  law — ^for 
the  law  must,  of  course,  command  those 
things. 

I  am  dealing  with  the  matter  thus  publicly 
and  frankly,  not  because  I  have  any  doubt  or 
fear  as  to  the  result,  but  only  in  order  that,  in 
all  our  thinking  and  in  all  our  dealings  with 
one  another  we  may  move  in  a  perfectly  clear 
air  of  mutual  understanding. 

And  there  is  something  more  that  we  must 
add  to  our  thinking.  The  public  is  now  as 
much  part  of  the  Government  as  are  the  Army 
and  Navy  themselves.  The  whole  people,  in 
all  their  activities,  are  now  mobilized  and  in 
service  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  Nation's 
task  in  this  war.  It  is  in  such  circumstances 
impossible  justly  to  distinguish  between  indus- 
trial purchases  made  by  the  Government  and 
industries.  And  it  is  just  as  much  our  duty 
to  sustain  the  industries  of  the  country,  all  the 


82      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

industries  that  contribute  to  its  life,  as  it  is 
to  sustain  our  forces  in  the  field  and  on  the  sea. 
We  must  make  the  prices  to  the  public  the 
same  as  the  prices  to  the  Government. 

PRICES  MEAN  VICTORY   OR  DEFEAT 

Prices  mean  the  same  thing  everywhere  now. 
They  mean  the  efficiency  or  the  inefficiency  of 
the  Nation,  whether  it  is  the  Government  that 
pays  them  or  not.  They  mean  victory  or  de- 
feat. They  mean  that  America  will  win  her 
place  once  for  all  among  the  foremost  free  Na- 
tions of  the  world,  or  that  she  will  sink  to 
defeat  and  become  a  second-rate  Power  alike 
in  thought  and  action.  This  is  a  day  of  her 
reckoning,  and  every  man  among  us  must  per- 
sonally face  that  reckoning  along  with  her. 

The  case  needs  no  arguing.  I  assume  that 
I  am  only  expressing  your  own  thoughts— 
what  must  be  in  the  mind  of  every  true  man 
when  he  faces  the  tragedy  and  the  solemn 
glory  of  the  present  war,  for  the  emancipa- 
tion of  mankind.  I  summon  you  to  a  great 
duty,  a  great  privilege,  a  shining  dignity  and 
distinction. 

I  shaU  expect  every  man  who  is  not  a  slacker 
to  be  at  my  side  throughout  this  great  enter- 
prise. In  it  no  man  can  win  honor  who  thinks 
of  himself. 


XII 


REPLY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  TO  THE  COM- 
MUNICATION OF  THE  POPE  TO  THE  BELLIG- 
ERENT GOVERNMENTS 

{August  27,  IQ17) 

To  His  Holiness  Benedictus  XV.,  Pope. 

In  acknowledgment  of  the  communication 
of  Your  Holiness  to  the  belligerent  peoples, 
dated  August  i,  191 7,  the  President  of  the 
United  States  requests  me  to  transmit  the 
following  reply : 

Every  heart  that  has  not  been  blinded  and 
hardened  by  this  terrible  war  must  be  touched 
by  this  moving  appeal  of  His  Holiness,  the 
Pope,  must  feel  the  dignity  and  force  of  the 
humane  and  generous  motives  which  prompted 
it,  and  must  fervently  wish  that  we  might  take 
the  path  of  peace  he  so  persuasively  points 
out.  But  it  would  be  folly  to  take  it  if  it  does 
not,  in  fact,  lead  to  the  goal  he  proposes.  Our 
response  must  be  based  upon  the  stem  facts 
and  upon  nothing  else.  It  is  not  a  mere  ces- 
sation of  arms  he  desires;  it  is  a  stable  and 
enduring  peace.    This  agony  must  not  be  gone 


84      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

through  with  again,  and  it  must  be  a  matter 
of  very  sober  judgment  what  will  insure  us 
against  it. 

THE   PROPOSAL   FROM   THE   VATICAN 

His  Holiness,  in  substance,  proposes  that  we 
return  to  the  status  quo  ante  hellufHy  and  that 
then  there  be  a  general  condonation,  disarma- 
ment, and  a  concert  of  nations  based  upon  an 
acceptance  of  the  principle  of  arbitration ;  that 
by  a  similar  concert  freedom  of  the  seas  be 
established;  and  that  the  territorial  claims  of 
France  and  Italy,  the  perplexing  problems  of 
the  Balkan  states,  and  the  restitution  of  Po- 
land be  left  to  such  conciliatory  adjustments  as 
may  be  possible  in  the  new  temper  of  such  a 
peace,  due  regard  being  paid  to  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  peoples  whose  political  fortunes 
and  affiliations  will  be  involved. 

It  is  manifest  that  no  part  of  this  program 
can  be  successfully  carried  out  unless  the  res- 
titution of  the  status  quo  ante  furnishes  a  firm 
and  satisfactory  basis  for  it.  The  object  of 
this  war  is  to  deliver  the  free  peoples  of  the 
world  from  the  menace  and  the  actual  power 
of  a  vast  military  establishment  controlled  by 
an  irresponsible  Government,  which,  having 
secretly  planned  to  dominate  the  world,  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  the  plan  out  without  re- 
gard either  to  the  sacred  obligations  of  treaty 
or  the  long-established  practices  and  long- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR       85 

cherished  principles  of  international  action  and 
honor;  which  chose  its  own  time  for  the  war; 
deHveredits  blow  fiercely  and  suddenly ;  stopped 
at  no  barrier  either  of  law  or  of  mercy;  swept 
a  whole  continent  within  the  tide  of  blood — 
not  the  blood  of  soldiers  only,  but  the  blood  of 
innocent  women  and  children  also,  and  of  the 
helpless  poor;  and  now  stands  balked  but  not 
defeated,  the  enemy  of  four-fifths  of  the  world. 
This  power  is  not  the  German  people.  It  is 
the  ruthless  master  of  the  German  people.  It 
is  no  business  of  ours  how  that  great  people 
came  under  its  control  or  submitted  with  tem- 
porary zest  to  the  domination  of  its  purpose; 
but  it  is  our  business  to  see  to  it  that  the  his- 
tory of  the  rest  of  the  world  is  no  longer  left 
to  its  handling. 

To  deal  with  such  a  power  by  way  of  peace 
upon  the  plan  proposed  by  His  Holiness  the 
Pope  would,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  involve  a 
recuperation  of  its  strength  and  a  renewal  of 
its  policy ;  would  make  it  necessary  to  create 
a  permanent  hostile  combination  of  nations 
against  the  German  people  who  are  its  instru- 
ments; and  would  result  in  abandoning  the 
new-bom  Russia  to  the  intrigue,  the  manifold 
subtle  interference,  and  the  certain  counter- 
revolution which  wotild  be  attempted  by  all 
the  malign  influences  to  which  the  German 
Government  has  of  late  accustomed  the  world. 
Can  peace  be  based  upon  a  restitution  of  its 


86      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

power  or  upon  any  word  of  honor  it  could 
pledge  in  a  treaty  of  settlement  and  accom- 
modation ? 

Responsible  statesmen  must  now  everywhere 
see,  if  they  never  saw  before,  that  no  peace  can 
rest  securely  upon  political  or  economic  restric- 
tions meant  to  benefit  some  nations  and  cripple 
or  embarrass  others,  upon  vindictive  action  of 
any  sort,  or  any  kind  of  revenge  or  deliberate 
injury.  The  American  people  have  stiffered 
intolerable  wrongs  at  the  hands  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government,  but  they  desire  no  re- 
prisal upon  the  German  people,  who  have 
themselves  suffered  all  things  in  this  war  which 
they  did  not  choose.  They  believe  that  peace 
should  rest  upon  the  rights  of  peoples,  not  the 
rights  of  governments — the  rights  of  peoples 
great  or  small,  weak  or  powerful — their  equal 
right  to  freedom  and  security  and  self-govern- 
ment and  to  a  participation  upon  fair  terms  in 
the  economic  opportunities  of  the  world,  the 
German  people,  of  course,  included,  if  they  will 
accept  equality  and  not  seek  domination. 

The  test,  therefore,  of  every  plan  of  peace 
is  this:  Is  it  based  upon  the  faith  of  all  the 
peoples  involved  or  merely  upon  the  word  of 
an  ambitious  and  intriguing  Government  on 
the  one  hand,  and  of  a  group  of  free  peoples 
on  the  other  ?  This  is  a  test  which  goes  to  the 
root  of  the  matter;  and  it  is  the  test  which 
must  be  applied. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      87 

THE   TEST   THAT   MUST   BE   APPLIED 

The  purposes  of  the  United  States  in  this 
war  are  known  to  the  whole  world,  to  every 
people  to  whom  the  truth  has  been  permitted 
to  come.  They  do  not  need  to  be  stated  again. 
We  seek  no  material  advantage  of  any  kind. 
We  believe  that  the  intolerable  wrongs  done  in 
this  war  by  the  furious  and  brutal  power  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government  ought  to  be  re- 
paired, but  not  at  the  expense  of  the  sover- 
eignty of  any  people — ^rather  a  vindication  of 
the  sovereignty  both  of  those  that  are  weak 
and  of  those  that  are  strong.  Punitive  dam- 
ages, the  dismemberment  of  empires,  the  es- 
tablishment of  selfish  and  exclusive  economic 
leagues,  we  deem  inexpedient  and  in  the  end 
worse  than  futile,  no  proper  basis  for  a  peace 
of  any  kind,  least  of  all  for  an  enduring  peace. 
That  must  be  based  upon  justice  and  fairness 
and  the  common  rights  of  mankind. 

THE  GERMAN  RULERS  CANNOT  BE  TRUSTED 

We  cannot  take  the  word  of  the  present  rul- 
ers of  Germany  as  a  guaranty  of  anything  that 
is  to  endure,  unless  explicitly  supported  by 
such  conclusive  evidence  of  the  will  and  pur- 
pose of  the  German  people  themselves  as  the 
other  peoples  of  the  world  would  be  justified 
in  accepting.  Without  such  guarantees  treaties 

of  settlement,   agreements  for  disarmament, 

7 


88      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

covenants  to  set  up  arbitration  in  the  place  of 
force,  territorial  adjustments,  reconstitutions 
of  small  nations,  if  made  with  the  German 
Government,  no  man,  no  nation  could  now 
depend  on.  We  must  await  some  new  evi- 
dence of  the  purposes  of  the  great  peoples  of 
the  Central  Powers.  God  grant  it  may  be 
given  soon,  and  in  a  way  to  restore  the  confi- 
dence  of  all  peoples  ever3rwhere  in  the  faith  of 
nations  and  the  possibility  of  a  covenanted 
peace. 

Robert  Lansing, 

Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  of 
America. 


XIII 

A    MESSAGE    TO    TEACHERS    AND    SCHOOL 

OFFICERS 

(Septetnbet  30,  1917) 

The  war  is  bringing  to  the  minds  of  our 
people  a  new  appreciation  of  the  problems  of 
national  life  and  a  deeper  understanding  of  the 
meaning  and  aims  of  democracy.  Matters 
which  heretofore  have  seemed  commonplace 
and  trivial  are  seen  in  a  truer  light.  The  ur- 
gent demand  for  the  production  and  proper 
distribution  of  food  and  other  national  re- 
sources has  made  us  aware  of  the  close  de- 
pendence of  individual  on  individual  and  na- 
tion on  nation.  The  effort  to  keep  up  social 
and  industrial  organizations,  in  spite  of  the 
withdrawal  of  men  for  the  army,  has  revealed 
the  extent  to  which  modem  life  has  become 
complex  and  specialized. 

These  and  other  lessons  of  the  war  must  be 
learned  quickly  if  we  are  intelligently  and  suc- 
cessfully to  defend  our  institutions.  When  the 
war  is  over  we  must  apply  the  wisdom  which 


90      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

we  have  acquired  in  purging  and  ennobling  the 
life  of  the  world. 


THE  COMMON  SCHOOL  HAS  A  PART  TO  PLAY 

In  these  vital  tasks  of  acquiring  a  broader 
view  of  human  possibiHties  the  common  school 
must  have  large  part.  I  urge  that  teachers 
and  other  school  officers  increase  materially  the 
time  and  attention  devoted  to  instruction  bear- 
ing directly  on  the  problems  of  community  and 
national  life. 

Such  a  plea  is  in  no  way  foreign  to  the  spirit 
of  American  public  education  or  of  existing 
practices.  Nor  is  it  a  plea  for  a  temporary 
enlargement  of  the  school  program  appropri- 
ate merely  to  the  period  of  the  war.  It  is  a 
plea  for  a  realization  in  public  education  of  the 
new  emphasis  which  the  war  has  given  to  the 
ideals  of  democracy  and  to  the  broader  con- 
ceptions of  national  life. 

In  order  that  there  may  be  definite  material 
at  hand  with  which  the  schools  may  at  once 
expand  their  teachings,  I  have  asked  Mr. 
Hoover  and  Commissioner  Claxton  to  organ- 
ize the  proper  agencies  for  the  preparation  and 
distribution  of  suitable  lessons  for  the  element- 
ary grades  and  for  the  high-school  classes. 
Lessons  thus  suggested  will  serve  the  double 
purpose  of  illustrating  in  a  concrete  way  what 
can  be  undertaken  in  the  schools  and  of  stimu- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      91 

lating  teachers  in  all  parts  of  the  country  to 
formulate  new  and  appropriate  materials  drawn 
directly  from  the  commimities  in  which  they 
live. 

WooDRow  Wilson. 


XIV 

WOMAN  SUFFRAGE  MUST  COME  NOW 
{October  23,  igi7) 

The  President  received  at  the  White  House 
a  delegation  from  the  New  York  State  Woman 
Suffrage  Party.  Answering  the  address  made 
by  the  chairman,  Mrs.  Norman  de  R.  White- 
house,  the  President  spoke  as  follows: 

Mrs.  Whitehouse  and  Ladies, — It  is  with 
great  pleasure  that  I  receive  you.  I  esteem  it 
a  privilege  to  do  so.  I  know  the  difficulties 
which  you  have  been  laboring  under  in  New 
York  State,  so  clearly  set  forth  by  Mrs.  White- 
house,  but  in  my  judgment  those  difficulties 
cannot  be  used  as  an  excuse  by  the  leaders  of 
any  party  or  by  the  voters  of  any  party  for 
neglecting  the  question  which  you  are  pressing 
upon  them.  Because,  after  all,  the  whole 
world  now  is  witnessing  a  struggle  between  two 
ideals  of  government.  It  is  a  struggle  which 
goes  deeper  and  touches  more  of  the  founda- 
tions of  the  organized  life  of  men  than  any 
struggle  that  has  ever  taken  place  before,  and 
no  settlement  of  the  questions  that  lie  on  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      93 

surface  can  satisfy  a  situation  which  requires 
that  the  questions  which  lie  underneath  and  at 
the  foundation  should  also  be  settled  and 
settled  right.  I  am  free  to  say  that  I  think 
the  question  of  woman  suffrage  is  one  of  those 
questions  which  lie  at  the  foundation. 

The  world  has  witnessed  a  slow  political 
reconstruction,  and  men  have  generally  been 
obliged  to  be  satisfied  with  the  slowness  of  the 
process.  In  a  sense  it  is  wholesome  that  it 
should  be  slow,  because  then  it  is  solid  and 
sure.  But  I  believe  that  this  war  is  going  so 
to  quicken  the  convictions  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  mankind  with  regard  to  political  ques- 
tions that  the  speed  of  reconstruction  will  be 
greatly  increased.  And  I  believe  that  just  be- 
cause w^e  are  quickened  by  the  questions  of 
this  war,  we  ought  to  be  quickened  to  give 
this  question  of  woman  suffrage  our  immediate 
consideration. 

NOW   IS   THE    TIME   TO   ACT 

As  one  of  the  spokesmen  of  a  great  party, 
I  would  be  doing  nothing  less  than  obeying  the 
mandates  of  that  party  if  I  gave  my  hearty 
support  to  the  question  of  woman  suffrage 
which  you  represent,  but  I  do  not  want  to 
speak  merely  as  one  of  the  spokesmen  of  a 
party.  I  want  to  speak  for  myself,  and  say 
that  it  seems  to  me  that  this  is  the  time  for  the 
States  of  this  Union  to  take  this  action.    I 


94      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

perhaps  may  be  touched  a  Httle  too  much  by 
the  traditions  of  our  poHtics,  traditions  which 
lay  such  questions  almost  entirely  upon  the 
States,  but  I  want  to  see  communities  declare 
themselves  quickened  at  this  time  and  show 
the  consequence  of  the  quickening. 

I  think  the  whole  country  has  appreciated 
the  way  in  which  the  women  have  risen  to  this 
great  occasion.  They  not  only  have  done  what 
they  have  been  asked  to  do,  and  done  it  with 
ardor  and  efficiency,  but  they  have  shown  a 
power  to  organize  for  doing  things  of  their  own 
initiative,  which  is  quite  a  different  thing,  and 
a  very  much  more  difficult  thing,  and  I  think 
the  whole  country  has  admired  the  spirit  and 
the  capacity  and  the  vision  of  the  women  of 
the  United  States. 

It  is  almost  absurd  to  say  that  the  country 
depends  upon  the  women  for  a  large  part  of 
the  inspiration  of  its  life.  That  is  too  obvious 
to  say;  but  it  is  now  depending  upon  the 
women  also  for  suggestions  of  service,  which 
have  been  rendered  in  abundance  and  with  the 
distinction  of  originality.  I,  therefore,  am  very 
glad  to  add  my  voice  to  those  which  are  urging 
the  people  of  the  great  State  of  New  York  to 
set  a  great  example  by  voting  for  woman  suf- 
frage. It  would  be  a  pleasure  if  I  might  utter 
that  advice  in  their  presence.  Inasmuch  as 
I  am  bound  too  close  to  my  duties  here  to 
moko  that  possible,  I  am  glad  to  have  th§ 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      95 

privilege  to  ask  you  to  convey  that  message 
to  them. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  time  of  privi- 
lege. All  otir  principles,  all  our  hearts,  all  our 
purposes,  are  being  searched ;  searched  not  only 
by  our  own  consciences,  but  searched  by  the 
world ;  and  it  is  time  for  the  people  of  the  States 
of  this  country  to  show  the  world  in  what  prac- 
tical sense  they  have  learned  the  lessons  of 
democracy — that  they  are  fighting  for  democ- 
racy because  they  beheve  it,  and  that  there  is 
no  application  of  democracy  which  they  do  not 
believe  in. 

I  feel,  therefore,  that  I  am  standing  upon 
the  firmest  foundations  of  the  age  in  bidding 
godspeed  to  the  cause  which  you  represent  and 
in  expressing  the  ardent  hope  that  the  people 
of  New  York  may  realize  the  great  occasion 
which  faces  them  on  Election  Day  and  may 
respond  to  it  in  noble  fashion. 


XV 

THE  THANKSGIVING  DAY  PROCLAMATION 
{November  7,  iQiT) 

It  has  long  been  the  honored  custom  of  our 
people  to  turn  in  the  fruitful  autumn  of  the 
year  in  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  Almighty 
God  for  His  many  blessings  and  mercies  to  us 
as  a  Nation.  That  custom  we  can  follow  now, 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  tragedy  of  a  world 
shaken  by  war  and  immeasurable  disaster,  in 
the  midst  of  sorrow  and  great  peril,  because 
even  amidst  the  darkness  that  has  gathered 
about  us  we  can  see  the  great  blessings  God 
has  bestowed  upon  us ;  blessings  that  are  bet- 
ter than  mere  peace  of  mind  and  prosperity  of 
enterprise. 

We  have  been  given  the  opportunity  to  serve 
mankind  as  we  once  served  ourselves  in  the 
great  day  of  our  declaration  of  independence, 
by  taking  up  arms  against  a  tyranny  that 
threatened  to  master  and  debase  men  every- 
where and  joining  with  other  free  peoples  in 
demanding  for  all  the  nations  of  the  world 
what  we  then  demanded  and  obtained  for  our- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR      97 

selves.  In  this  day  of  the  revelation  of  our 
duty  not  only  to  defend  our  rights  as  a  Nation, 
but  to  defend  also  the  rights  of  free  men 
throughout  the  world,  there  has  been  vouch- 
safed us  in  full  and  inspiring  measure  the  reso- 
lution and  spirit  of  united  action.  We  have 
been  brought  to  one  mind  and  purpose.  A 
new  vigor  of  common  counsel  and  common 
action  has  been  revealed  in  us. 

We  should  especially  thank  God  that,  in 
such  circumstances,  in  the  midst  of  the  great- 
est enterprise  the  spirits  of  men  have  ever 
entered  upon,  we  have,  if  we  but  observe  a 
reasonable  and  practicable  economy,  abun- 
dance with  which  to  supply  the  needs  of  those 
associated  with  us  as  well  as  our  own. 

A  new  light  shines  about  us.  The  great 
duties  of  a  new  day  awaken  a  new  and  greater 
national  spirit  in  us.  We  shall  never  again  be 
divided  or  wonder  what  stuff  we  are  made  of. 

And  while  we  render  thanks  for  these  things, 
let  us  pray  Almighty  God  that  in  all  humble- 
ness of  spirit  we  may  look  always  to  Him  for 
guidance;  that  we  may  be  kept  constant  in  the 
spirit  and  purpose  of  service ;  that  by  His  grace 
our  minds  may  be  directed  and  our  hands 
strengthened,  and  that  in  His  good  time  lib- 
erty and  security  and  peace  and  the  comrade- 
ship of  a  common  justice  may  be  vouchsafed 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Wherefore,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of 


98      IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

the  United  States  of  America,  do  hereby  desig- 
nate Thursday,  the  29th  day  of  November 
next,  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  prayer,  and 
invite  the  people  throughout  the  land  to  cease 
upon  that  day  from  their  ordinary  occupations 
and  in  their  several  homes  and  places  of  wor- 
ship to  render  thanks  to  God,  the  Great  Ruler 
of  nations. 


XVI 

LABOR  MUST  BEAR  ITS  PART 
{November  12,  1917) 

In  his  address  before  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  assembled  in  convention  at 
Buffalo,  New  York,  the  President  spoke  as 
follows: 

Mr.  President,  Delegates  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  op  Labor,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen, — I  esteem  it  a  great  privilege 
and  a  real  honor  to  be  thus  admitted  to  your 
public  councils.  When  your  executive  com- 
mittee paid  me  the  compliment  of  inviting  me 
here  I  gladly  accepted  the  invitation,  because 
it  seems  to  me  that  this,  above  all  other  times 
in  your  history,  is  the  time  for  common  coun- 
sel, for  the  drawing  not  only  of  the  energies, 
but  of  the  minds  of  the  nation  together.  I 
thought  that  it  was  a  welcome  opportunity  for 
disclosing  to  you  some  of  the  thoughts  that 
have  been  gathering  in  my  mind  during  the 
last  momentous  months. 

I  am  introduced  to  you  as  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  yet  I  would  be  pleased 
if  you  would  put  the  thought  of  the  office  into 


loo     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

the  background  and  regard  me  as  one  of  your 
fellow-citizens  who  has  come  here  to  speak, 
not  the  words  of  authority,  but  the  words  of 
counsel,  the  words  which  men  should  speak  to 
one  another  who  wish  to  be  frank  in  a  moment 
more  critical,  perhaps,  than  the  history  of  the 
world  has  ever  yet  known,  a  moment  when  it 
is  every  man's  duty  to  forget  himself,  to  forget 
his  own  interests,  to  fill  himself  with  the  nobil- 
ity of  a  great  national  and  world  conception 
and  act  upon  a  new  platform  elevated  above 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  elevated  to  where 
men  have  views  of  the  long  destiny  of  mankind. 
I  think  that  in  order  to  realize  just  what 
this  moment  of  counsel  is,  it  is  very  desirable 
that  we  should  remind  ourselves  just  how  this 
war  came  about  and  just  what  it  is  for.  You 
can  explain  most  wars  very  simply,  but  the 
explanation  of  this  is  not  so  simple.  Its  roots 
run  deep  into  all  the  obscure  soils  of  history, 
and,  in  my  view,  this  is  the  last  decisive  issue 
between  the  old  principles  of  power  and  the 
new  principles  of  freedom. 

GERMANY  RESPONSIBLE   FOR  THE   WAR 

The  war  was  started  by  Germany.  Her 
authorities  deny  that  they  started  it,  but  I  am 
willing  to  let  the  statement  I  have  just  made 
await  the  verdict  of  history.  The  thing  that 
needs  to  be  explained  is  why  Germany  started 
the  war.     Remember  what  the  position  of  Ger- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     loi 

many  in  the  world  WciS-^ias' en  viable  a' position 
as  any  nation  has  ever  occupied.  The  whole 
world  stood  at  admiration  of  her  wonderful 
intellectual  and  material  achievements,  and  all 
the  intellectual  men  of  the  world  went  to  school 
to  her.  As  a  university  man  I  have  been  sur- 
rounded by  men  trained  in  Germany,  men 
who  had  resorted  to  Germany  because  nowhere 
else  could  they  get  such  thorough  and  search- 
ing training,  particularly  in  the  principles  of 
science  and  the  principles  that  underlie  modem 
material  achievements. 

Her  men  of  science  had  made  her  indus- 
tries perhaps  the  most  competent  industries  in 
the  world,  and  the  label,  "Made  in  Germany,'* 
was  a  guarantee  of  good  workmanship  and 
of  sound  material.  She  had  access  to  all  the 
markets  of  the  world,  and  every  other  man 
who  traded  in  those  markets  feared  Germany 
because  of  her  effective  and  almost  irresistible 
competition.  She  had  a  place  in  the  sun.  Why 
was  she  not  satisfied?  What  more  did  she 
want?  There  was  nothing  in  the  world  of 
peace  that  she  did  not  already  have,  and  have 
in  abundance. 

We  boast  of  the  extraordinary  pace  of 
American  advancement.  We  show  with  pride 
the  statistics  of  the  increase  of  our  industries 
and  of  the  population  of  our  cities.  Well, 
those  statistics  did  not  match  the  recent  sta- 
tistics of  Germany.     Her  old  cities  took  on 


102     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

youth,  grew  faster  than  any  American  cities 
ever  grew;  her  old  industries  opened  their  eyes 
and  saw  a  new  world  and  went  out  for  its  con- 
quest, and  yet  the  authorities  of  Germany  were 
not  satisfied. 

You  have  one  part  of  the  answer  to  the 
question  why  she  was  not  satisfied  in  her  meth- 
ods of  competition.  There  is  no  important  in- 
dustry in  Germany  upon  which  the  Govern- 
ment had  not  laid  its  hands  to  direct  it  and, 
when  necessity  arose,  control  it. 

You  have  only  to  ask  any  man  whom  you 
meet  who  is  familiar  with  the  conditions  that 
prevailed  before  the  war  in  the  matter  of  inter- 
national competition  to  find  out  the  methods 
of  competition  which  the  German  manufactur- 
ers and  exporters  used  under  the  patronage 
and  support  of  the  Government  of  Germany. 
You  will  find  that  they  were  the  same  sorts  of 
competition  that  we  have  decided  to  prevent 
by  law  within  our  own  borders.  If  they  could 
not  sell  their  goods  cheaper  than  we  could 
sell  ours,  at  a  profit  to  themselves,  they  could 
get  a  subsidy  from  the  Government  which 
made  it  possible  to  sell  them  cheaper  any- 
how; and  the  conditions  of  competition  were 
thus  controlled  in  large  measure  by  the  German 
Government  itself. 

But  that  did  not  satisfy  the  German  Gov- 
ernment. All  the  while  there  was  lying  be- 
hind its  thought,  in  its  dreams  of  the  future,  a 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     103 

political  control  which  would  enable  it,  in  the 
long  run,  to  dominate  the  labor  and  the  in- 
dustry of  the  world. 

SUCCESS    BY   AUTHORITY 

They  were  not  content  with  success  by  su- 
perior achievement;  they  wanted  success  by 
authority.  I  suppose  very  few  of  you  have 
thought  much  about  the  Berlin  to  Bagdad  rail- 
way. The  Berlin  to  Bagdad  railway  was  con- 
structed in  order  to  run  the  threat  of  force 
down  the  flank  of  the  industrial  undertakings 
of  half  a  dozen  other  countries,  so  that  when 
German  competition  came  in  it  would  not  be 
resisted  too  far — because  there  was  always  the 
possibility  of  getting  German  armies  into  the 
heart  of  that  country  quicker  than  any  other 
armies  could  be  got  there. 

Look  at  the  map  of  Europe  now.  Ger- 
many, in  thrusting  upon  us  again  and  again 
the  discussion  of  peace,  talks  about  what? 
Talks  about  Belgium,  talks  about  northern 
France,  talks  about  Alsace-Lorraine.  She  has 
kept  all  that  her  dreams  contemplated  when 
the  war  began.  If  she  can  keep  that,  her 
power  can  disturb  the  world  as  long  as  she 
keeps  it ;  always  provided — for  I  feel  bound  to 
put  this  provision  in — always  provided  the 
present  influences  that  control  the  German 
Government  continue  to  control  it. 

I  believe  that  the  spirit  of  freedom  can  get 


I04    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

into  the  hearts  of  Germans  and  find  as  fine  a 
welcome  there  as  it  can  find  in  any  other 
hearts.  But  the  spirit  of  freedom  does  not 
suit  the  plans  of  the  Pan-Germans.  Power 
cannot  be  used  with  concentrated  force  against 
free  peoples  if  it  is  used  by  free  people.  You 
know  how  many  intimations  come  to  us  from 
one  of  the  Central  Powers  that  it  is  more 
anxious  for  peace  than  the  chief  Central  Power, 
and  you  know  that  it  means  that  the  people  in 
that  Central  Power  know  that  if  the  war  ends 
as  it  stands,  they  will  in  effect  themselves  be 
vassals  of  Germany,  notwithstanding  that  their 
populations  are  compounded  with  all  the  people 
of  that  part  of  the  world,  and  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  they  do  not  v/ish,  in  their  pride 
and  proper  spirit  of  nationality,  to  be  so 
absorbed  and  dominated. 

THE   POLITICAL  POWER   OP   THE   WORLD 

Germany  is  determined  that  the  political 
power  of  the  world  shall  belong  to  her.  There 
have  been  such  ambitions  before.  They  have 
been  in  part  realized.  But  never  before  have 
those  ambitions  been  based  upon  so  exact  and 
precise  and  scientific  a  plan  of  domination. 

May  I  not  say  it  is  amazing  to  me  that  any 
group  of  people  should  be  so  ill  informed  as  to 
suppose,  as  some  groups  in  Russia  apparently 
suppose,  that  any  reforms  planned  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  people  can  live  in  the  presence  of 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     105 

a  Germany  powerful  enough  to  undermine  or 
overthrow  them  by  intrigue  or  force? 

Any  body  of  free  men  that  compounds 
with  the  present  German  Government  is  com- 
pounding for  its  own  destruction.  But  that 
is  not  the  whole  of  the  story.  Any  man  in 
America  or  anywhere  else  who  supposes  that 
the  free  industry  and  enterprise  of  the  world 
can  continue  if  the  Pan-German  plan  is  achieved 
and  German  power  fastened  upon  the  world  is 
as  fatuous  as  the  dreamers  of  Russia. 

What  I  am  opposed  to  is  not  the  feeling  of 
the  pacifists,  but  their  stupidity.  My  heart 
is  with  them,  but  my  mind  has  a  contempt  for 
them.  I  want  peace,  but  I  know  how  to  get 
it,  and  they  do  not. 

You  will  notice  that  I  sent  a  friend  of 
mine,  Colonel  House,  to  Europe,  who  is  as 
great  a  lover  of  peace  as  any  man  in  the  world ; 
but  I  did  not  send  him  on  a  peace  mission.  I 
sent  him  to  take  part  in  a  conference  as  to  how 
the  war  was  to  be  won.  And  he  knows,  as  I 
know,  that  that  is  the  way  to  get  peace  if  you 
want  it  for  more  than  a  few  minutes. 

If  we  are  true  friends  of  freedom — our  own 
or  anybody  else's — ^we  will  see  that  the  power 
of  this  country  and  the  productivity  of  this 
country  is  raised  to  its  absolute  maximum  and 
that  absolutely  nobody  is  allowed  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  it. 

When  I  say  that  nobody  ought  to  be  al- 


io6     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

lowed  to  stand  in  the  way,  I  don't  mean  that 
they  shall  be  prevented  by  the  power  of 
Government,  but  by  the  power  of  the  Ameri- 
can spirit.  Our  duty,  if  we  are  to  do  this  great 
thing  and  show  America  to  be  what  we  believe 
her  to  be,  the  greatest  hope  and  energy  in  the 
world,  then  we  must  stand  together  night  and 
day  until  the  job  is  finished. 

LABOR  MUST   BE   FREE 

While  we  are  fighting  for  freedom  we  must 
see,  among  other  things,  that  labor  is  free,  and 
that  means  a  number  of  interesting  things.  It 
means  not  only  that  we  must  do  what  we  have 
declared  our  purpose  to  do — ^see  that  the  con- 
ditions of  labor  are  not  rendered  more  oner- 
ous by  the  war — but  also  that  we  shall  see  to 
it  that  the  instrumentalities  by  which  the  con- 
ditions of  labor  are  improved  are  not  blocked 
or  checked.  That  we  must  do.  That  has 
been  the  matter  about  which  I  have  taken 
pleasiire  in  conferring,  from  time  to  time,  with 
your  president,  Mr.  Gompers;  and  if  I  may  be 
permitted  to  do  so,  I  want  to  express  my  ad- 
miration of  his  patriotic  courage,  his  large 
vision,  his  statesman-Hke  sense  and  a  mind  that 
knows  how  to  pull  in  harness.  The  horses 
that  kick  over  the  traces  will  have  to  be  put 
in  a  corral. 

Now,  to  ''stand  together"  means  that  no- 
body must  interrupt  the  processes  of  our  en- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     107 

ergy  if  the  interruption  can  possibly  be  avoided 
without  the  absolute  invasion  of  freedom.  To 
put  it  concretely,  that  means  this :  Nobody  has 
a  right  to  stop  the  processes  of  labor  until  all 
the  methods  of  conciliation  and  settlement 
have  been  exhausted,  and  I  might  as  well  say 
right  here  that  I  am  not  talking  to  you  alone. 
You  sometimes  stop  the  courses  of  labor,  but 
there  are  others  who  do  the  same.  I  am  speak- 
ing of  my  own  experience  when  I  say  that  you 
are  reasonable  in  a  larger  number  of  cases  than 
the  capitalists. 

I  am  not  saying  these  things  to  them  per- 
sonally yet,  because  I  haven't  had  a  chance. 
But  they  have  to  be  said,  not  in  any  spirit  of 
criticism. 

But,  in  order  to  clear  the  atmosphere  and 
come  down  to  business,  everybody  on  both 
sides  has  got  to  transact  business,  and  the 
settlement  is  never  impossible  when  both  sides 
want  to  do  the  square  and  right  thing.  More- 
over, a  settlement  is  always  hard  to  avoid 
when  the  parties  can  be  brought  face  to  face. 
I  can  differ  with  a  man  much  more  radically 
when  he  isn't  in  the  room  than  I  can  when  he 
is  in  the  room,  because  then  the  awkward  thing 
is  that  he  can  come  back  at  me  and  answer 
what  I  say.  It  is  always  dangerous  for  a  man 
to  have  the  floor  entirely  to  himself.  And, 
therefore,  we  must  insist  in  every  instance  that 
the  parties  come  into  each  other's  presence  and 


loS     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

there  discuss  the  issues  between  them,  and  not 
separately  in  places  which  have  no  communi- 
cation with  each  other. 

I  like  to  remind  myself  of  a  delightful  say- 
ing of  an  Englishman  of  a  past  generation, 
Charles  Lamb.  He  was  with  a  group  of  friends 
and  he  spoke  harshly  of  some  man  who  was 
not  present.  I  ought  to  say  that  Lamb  stut- 
tered a  little  bit.  And  one  of  his  friends  said, 
*'Why,  Charles,  I  didn't  know  that  you  knew 
So-and-so?"  * 'Oh,"  he  said,  **  I  don't.  I  can't 
hate  a  man  I  know." 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  human  nature,  of 
very  pleasant  human  nature,  in  that  saying. 
It  is  hard  to  hate  a  man  you  know.  I  may 
admit,  parenthetically,  that  there  are  some 
politicians  whose  methods  I  do  not  at  all  be- 
lieve in,  but  they  are  jolly  good  fellows,  and  if 
they  would  not  talk  the  wrong  kind  of  politics 
with  me  I  would  love  to  be  with  them.  And 
so  it  is  all  along  the  line,  in  serious  matters  and 
things  less  serious.  We  are  all  of  the  same 
clay  and  spirit,  and  we  can  get  together  if  we 
desire  to  get  together. 

AMERICANS  MUST  CO-OPERATE 

Therefore  my  counsel  to  you  is  this :  Let  us 
show  ourselves  Americans  by  showing  that  we 
do  not  want  to  go  off  in  separate  camps  or 
groups  by  ourselves,  but  that  we  want  to  co- 
operate with  all  other  classes  and  all  other 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     109 

groups  in  a  common  enterprise,  which  is  to 
release  the  spirits  of  the  worid  from  bondage. 
I  would  be  willing  to  set  that  up  as  the  final 
test  of  an  American.  That  is  the  meaning  of 
democracy. 

I  have  been  very  much  distressed,  my  fel- 
low-citizens, by  some  of  the  things  that  have 
happened  recently.  The  mob  spirit  is  display- 
ing itself  here  and  there  in  this  country.  I 
have  no  sympathy  with  what  some  men  are 
saying,  but  I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  men 
that  take  their  punishment  into  their  own 
hands;  and  I  want  to  say  to  every  man  who 
does  join  such  a  mob  that  I  recognize  him  as 
unworthy  of  the  free  institutions  of  the  United 
States. 

There  are  some  organizations  in  this  coun- 
try whose  object  is  anarchy  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  law.  I  despise  and  hate  their  pur- 
pose as  much  as  any  man,  but  I  respect  the 
ancient  processes  of  justice,  and  I  would  be  too 
proud  not  to  see  them  done  justice,  however 
wrong  they  are.  And  so  I  want  to  utter  my 
earnest  protest  against  any  manifestation  of 
the  spirit  of  lawlessness  anywhere  or  in  any 
cause.     Why,  gentlemen,  look  what  it  means. 

We  claim  to  be  the  greatest  democratic 
people  in  the  world,  and  democracy  means, 
first  of  all,  that  we  can  govern  ourselves.  If 
our  men  have  not  self-control,  then  they  are 
not  capable  of  that  great  thing  which  we  call 


no    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

democratic  government.  A  man  who  takes  the 
law  into  his  own  hands  is  not  the  right  man  to 
co-operate  in  any  form  of  orderly  development 
of  law  and  institutions. 

And  some  of  the  processes  by  which  the 
struggle  between  capital  and  labor  is  carried 
on  are  processes  that  come  very  near  to  taking 
the  law  into  your  own  hands.  I  do  not  mean 
for  a  moment  to  compare  them  with  what  I 
have  just  been  speaking  of,  but  I  want  you  to 
see  that  they  are  mere  gradations  of  the  mani- 
festations of  the  unwillingness  to  co-operate. 
The  fundamental  lesson  of  the  whole  situation 
is  that  we  must  not  only  take  common  counsel, 
but  that  we  must  yield  to  and  obey  common 
counsel.  Not  all  of  the  instrumentalities  for 
this  are  at  hand. 

BETTER  CONDITIONS  MAY  BE  AT  HAND 

I  am  hopeful  that  in  the  very  near  future 
new  instrumentalities  may  be  organized  by 
which  we  can  see  to  it  that  various  things  that 
are  now  going  on  shall  not  go  on.  There  are 
various  processes  of  the  dilution  of  labor  and 
the  unnecessary  substitution  of  labor  and  bid- 
ding in  different  markets  and  unfairly  upset- 
ting the  whole  competition  of  labor  which 
ought  not  to  go  on — I  mean  now,  on  the  part 
of  employers — and  we  must  interject  into  this 
some  instrumentality  of  co-operation  by  which 
the  fair  thing  will  be  done  all  around. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     in 

I  am  hopeful  that  some  such  instrumen- 
talities may  be  devised,  but  whether  they  are 
or  not  we  must  use  those  that  we  have,  and 
upon  every  occasion  where  it  is  necessary  to 
have  such  an  instrumentality,  originated  upon 
that  occasion,  if  necessary. 

And  so,  my  fellow-citizens,  the  reason  that 
I  came  away  from  Washington  is  that  I  some- 
times get  lonely  down  there — there  are  so  many 
people  in  Washington  who  know  things  that 
are  not  so,  and  there  are  so  few  people  in  Wash- 
ington who  know  anything  about  what  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  thinking  about. 
I  have  to  come  away  to  get  reminded  of  the 
rest  of  the  country.  I  have  come  away  and 
talk  to  men  who  are  up  against  the  real  thing 
and  say  to  them,  I  am  with  you  if  you  are 
with  me.  The  only  test  of  being  with  me  is 
not  to  think  about  me  personally  at  all,  but 
merely  to  think  of  me  as  the  expression  for  the 
time  being  of  the  power  and  dignity  and  hope 
of  the  American  people. 


XVII 

ADDRESS  TO  CONGRESS 
{December  4,  1917) 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress, — Eight 
months  have  elapsed  since  I  last  had  the  honor 
of  addressing  you.  They  have  been  months 
crowded  with  events  of  immense  and  grave  sig- 
nificance for  us.  I  shall  not  imdertake  to  detail 
or  even  to  summarize  these  events.  The  prac- 
tical particulars  of  the  part  we  have  played  in 
them  will  be  laid  before  you  in  the  reports  of 
the  executive  departments.  I  shall  discuss  only 
our  present  outlook  upon  these  vast  affairs, 
our  present  duties  and  the  immediate  means  of 
accomplishing  the  objects  we  shall  hold  always 
in  view. 

I  shall  not  go  back  to  debate  the  causes  of 
the  war.  The  intolerable  wrongs  done  and 
planned  against  us  by  the  sinister  masters  of 
Germany  have  long  since  become  too  grossly 
obvious  and  odious  to  every  true  American  to 
need  to  be  rehearsed.  But  I  shall  ask  you  to 
consider  again,  and  with  very  grave  scrutiny, 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     113 

our  objectives  and  the  measures  by  which  we 
mean  to  attain  them;  for  the  purpose  of  discus- 
sion here  in  this  place  is  action,  and  our  action 
must  move  straight  toward  definite  ends.  Our 
object  is,  of  course,  to  win  the  war,  and  we 
shall  not  slacken  or  suffer  ourselves  to  be  di- 
verted until  it  is  won.  But  it  is  worth  while 
asking  and  answering  the  question,  When  shall 
we  consider  the  war  won? 

From  one  point  of  view  it  is  not  necessary  to 
broach  this  fundamental  matter.  I  do  not 
doubt  that  the  American  people  know  what 
the  war  is  about,  and  what  sort  of  an  outcome 
they  will  regard  as  a  realization  of  their  pur- 
pose in  it.  As  a  nation  we  are  united  in  spirit 
and  intention. 

I  pay  little  heed  to  those  who  tell  me 
otherwise.  I  hear  the  voices  of  dissent — 
who  does  not?  I  hear  the  criticism  and 
the  clamor  of  the  noisily  thoughtless  and 
troublesome.  I  also  see  men  here  and  there 
fling  themselves  in  impotent  disloyalty  against 
the  calm,  indomitable  power  of  the  Nation. 
I  hear  men  debate  peace  who  understand 
neither  its  nature  nor  the  way  in  which  we 
may  attain  it,  with  uplifted  eyes  and  un- 
broken spirits.  But  I  know  that  none  of 
these  speaks  for  the  Nation.  They  do  not 
touch  the  heart  of  anything.  They  may 
safely  be  left  to  strut  about  their  uneasy 
hour  and  be  forgotten. 


114     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

WHAT  WE   ARE    FIGHTING   FOR 

But  from  another  point  of  view  I  believe 
that  it  is  necessary  to  say  plainly  what  we  here 
at  the  seat  of  action  consider  the  war  to  be  for, 
and  what  part  we  mean  to  play  in  the  settle- 
ment of  its  searching  issues.  We  are  the  spokes- 
men of  the  American  people,  and  they  have  a 
right  to  know  whether  their  purpose  is  ours. 
They  desire  peace  by  the  overcoming  of  evil, 
but  the  defeat  once  and  for  all  of  the  sinister 
forces  that  interrupt  peace  and  render  it  im- 
possible, and  they  wish  to  know  how  closely 
our  thought  runs  with  theirs  and  what  action 
we  propose.  They  are  impatient  with  those 
who  desire  peace  by  any  sort  of  compromise — 
deeply  and  indignantly  impatient — but  they 
will  be  equally  impatient  with  us  if  we  do  not 
make  it  plain  to  them  what  our  objectives  are 
and  what  we  are  planning  for  in  seeking  to 
make  conquest  of  peace  by  arms. 

I  believe  that  I  speak  for  them  when  I  say 
two  things :  First,  that  this  intolerable  Thing  of 
which  the  masters  of  Germany  have  shown  us 
the  ugly  face,  this  menace  of  combined  intrigue 
and  force,  which  we  now  see  so  clearly  as  the 
German  power,  a  Thing  without  conscience  or 
honor  or  capacity  for  covenanted  peace,  must 
be  crushed,  and,  if  it  be  not  utterly  brought 
to  an  end,  at  least  shut  out  from  the  friendly 
intercourse  of  the  nations;  and,  second,  that 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     115 

when  this  Thing  and  its  power  are  indeed  de- 
feated and  the  time  comes  that  we  can  discuss 
peace — when  the  German  people  have  spokes- 
men whose  word  we  can  believe,  and  when 
those  spokesmen  are  ready,  in  the  name  of  their 
people,  to  accept  the  common  judgment  of  the 
nations  as  to  what  shall  henceforth  be  the 
bases  of  law  and  of  covenant  for  the  life  of 
the  world — we  shall  be  willing  and  glad  to  pay 
the  full  price  for  peace  and  pay  it  ungrudgingly. 
We  know  what  that  price  will  be.  It  will  be 
full,  impartial  justice — justice  done  at  every 
point  and  to  every  nation  that  the  final  settle- 
ment must  affect,  our  enemies  as  well  as  our 
friends. 

You  catch  with  me  the  voices  of  humanity 
that  are  in  the  air.  They  grow  daily  more 
audible,  more  articulate,  more  persuasive,  and 
they  come  from  the  hearts  of  men  everywhere. 
They  insist  that  the  war  shall  not  end  in  vin- 
dictive action  of  any  kind;  that  no  nation  or 
people  shall  be  robbed  or  punished  because  the 
irresponsible  rulers  of  a  single  country  have 
themselves  done  deep  and  abominable  wrong. 
It  is  this  thought  that  has  been  expressed  in 
the  formula,  "No  annexations,  no  contribu- 
tions, no  punitive  indemnities." 

THE   PEOPLE   OF   RUSSIA   LED  ASTRAY 

Just  because  this  crude  formula  expresses  the 
instinctive  judgment  as  to  the  right  of  plain 


ii6     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

men  everywhere,  it  has  been  made  diligent  use 
of  by  the  masters  of  German  intrigue  to  lead 
the  people  of  Russia  astray,  and  the  people  of 
every  other  country  their  agents  could  reach, 
in  order  that  a  premature  peace  might  be 
brought  about  before  autocracy  has  been  taught 
its  final  and  convincing  lesson  and  the  people 
of  the  world  put  in  control  of  their  own 
destinies. 

But  the  fact  that  a  wrong  use  has  been  made 
of  a  just  idea  is  no  reason  why  a  right  use 
should  not  be  made  of  it.  It  ought  to  be 
brought  under  the  patronage  of  its  real  friends. 
Let  it  be  said  again  that  autocracy  must  first 
be  shown  the  utter  futility  of  its  claims  to 
power  or  leadership  in  the  modern  world.  It 
is  impossible  to  apply  any  standard  of  justice 
so  long  as  such  forces  are  unchecked  and  un- 
defeated as  the  present  masters  of  Germany 
command.  Not  until  that  has  been  done  can 
right  be  set  up  as  arbiter  and  peacemaker 
among  the  nations.  But  when  that  has  been 
done — as,  God  willing,  it  assuredly  will  be — 
we  shall  at  last  be  free  to  do  an  unprecedented 
thing,  and  this  is  the  time  to  avow  our  purpose 
to  do  it.  We  shall  be  free  to  base  peace  on 
generosity  and  justice,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
selfish  claims  to  advantage,  even  on  the  part 
of  the  victors. 

Let  there  be  no  misunderstanding.  Our 
present  and  immediate  task  is  to  win  the  war, 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     117 

and  nothing  shall  turn  us  aside  from  it  until 
it  is  accomplished.  Every  power  and  resource 
we  possess,  whether  of  men,  of  money,  or  of 
materials,  is  being  devoted,  and  will  continue 
to  be  devoted,  to  that  purpose  until  it  is 
achieved.  Those  who  desire  to  bring  peace 
about  before  that  purpose  is  achieved  I  coun- 
sel to  carry  their  advice  elsewhere.  We  will 
not  entertain  it. 

JUSTICE   AND   REPARATION 

We  shall  regard  the  war  only  as  won  when 
the  German  people  say  to  us,  through  properly 
accredited  representatives,  that  they  are  ready 
to  agree  to  a  settlement  based  upon  justice  and 
the  reparation  of  the  wrongs  their  rulers  have 
done.  They  have  done  a  wrong  to  Belgium 
which  must  be  repaired.  They  have  estab- 
lished a  power  over  other  lands  and  peoples 
than  their  own — over  the  great  empire  of  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, over  hitherto  free  Balkan  states, 
over  Turkey,  and  within  Asia — which  must  be 
relinquished. 

Germany's  success  by  skill,  by  industry,  by 
knowledge,  by  enterprise,  we  did  not  grudge 
or  oppose,  but  admired  rather.  She  had  built 
up  for  herself  a  real  empire  of  trade  and  influ- 
ence, secured  by  the  peace  of  the  world.  We 
were  content  to  abide  the  rivalries  of  manufact- 
ure, science  and  commerce  that  were  involved 
for  us  in  her  success,  and  stand  or  fall  as  we  had 


ii8     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

or  did  not  have  the  brains  and  the  initiative 
to  surpass  her.  But  at  the  moment  when  she 
had  conspicuously  won  her  triumphs  of  peace 
she  threw  them  away  to  estabHsh  in  their 
stead  what  the  world  will  no  longer  permit  to 
be  established — military  and  political  domi- 
nation by  arms,  by  which  to  oust  where  she 
could  not  excel  the  rivals  she  most  feared  and 
hated. 

The  peace  we  make  must  remedy  that  wrong. 
It  must  deliver  the  once  fair  lands  and  happy 
peoples  of  Belgium  and  northern  France  from 
the  Prussian  conquest  and  the  Prussian  men- 
ace, but  it  must  also  deliver  the  peoples  of 
Austria-Hungary,  the  peoples  of  the  Balkans, 
and  the  peoples  of  Turkey,  alike  in  Europe  and 
in  Asia,  from  the  impudent  and  alien  domi- 
nation of  the  Prussian  military  and  commercial 
autocracy. 

We  owe  it,  however,  to  ourselves  to  say  that 
we  do  not  wish  in  any  way  to  impair  or  to  re- 
arrange the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire.  It  is 
no  affair  of  ours  what  they  do  with  their  own 
life,  either  industrially  or  politically.  We  do 
not  purpose  nor  desire  to  dictate  to  them  in 
any  way.  We  only  desire  to  see  that  their  af- 
fairs are  left  in  their  own  hands,  in  all  matters, 
great  or  small.  We  shall  hope  to  secure  for 
the  peoples  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  and  for  the 
people  of  the  Turkish  Empire  the  right  and  op- 
portunity to  make  their  own  lives  safe,  their 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     119 

own  fortunes  secure  against  oppression  or  injus- 
tice and  from  the  dictation  of  foreign  courts  or 
parties,  and  our  attitude  and  purpose  with 
regard  to  Germany  herself  are  of  a  like  kind. 

OUR  ATTITUDE   TOWARD   GERMANY 

We  intend  no  wrong  against  the  German  Em- 
pire, no  interference  with  her  internal  affairs. 
We  should  deem  either  the  one  or  the  other 
absolutely  unjustifiable,  absolutely  contrary  to 
the  principles  we  have  professed  to  live  by  and 
to  hold  most  sacred  throughout  our  life  as  a 
nation. 

The  people  of  Germany  are  being  told  by 
the  men  whom  they  now  permit  to  deceive 
them  and  to  act  as  their  masters  that  they 
are  fighting  for  very  life  and  existence  of 
their  empire,  a  war  of  desperate  self-defense 
against  deliberate  aggression.  Nothing  could 
be  more  grossly  or  wantonly  false,  and  we  must 
seek,  by  the  utmost  openness  and  candor  as 
to  our  real  aims,  to  convince  them  of  its  false- 
ness. We  are,  in  fact,  fighting  for  their  eman- 
cipation from  fear,  along  with  our  own,  from 
the  fear  as  well  as  from  the  fact  of  unjust 
attack  by  neighbors  or  rivals  or  schemers  after 
world  empire.  No  one  is  threatening  the  exist- 
ence or  the  independence  or  the  peaceful  en- 
terprise of  the  German  Empire. 

The  worst  that  can  happen  to  the  detriment 
of  the  German  people  is  this,  that  if  they  should 


120    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

still,  after  the  war  is  over,  continue  to  be 
obliged  to  live  under  ambitious  and  intriguing 
masters  interested  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
world,  men  or  classes  of  men  whom  the  other 
peoples  of  the  world  could  not  trust,  it  might 
be  impossible  to  admit  them  to  the  partner- 
ship of  nations  which  must  henceforth  guar- 
antee the  world's  peace.  That  partnership 
must  be  a  partnership  of  peoples,  not  a  mere 
partnership  of  governments. 

It  might  be  impossible,  also,  in  such  untow- 
ard circumstances,  to  admit  Germany  to  the 
free  economic  intercourse  which  must  inevi- 
tably spring  out  of  the  other  partnerships  of  a 
real  peace.  But  there  would  be  no  aggression 
in  that;  and  such  a  situation,  inevitable  be- 
cause of  distrust,  would  in  the  very  nature  of 
things  sooner  or  later  cure  itself,  by  processes 
which  would  assuredly  set  in. 

THE   RIGHTS    OF   THE    CENTRAL   POWERS 

The  wrongs,  the  very  deep  wrongs,  com- 
mitted in  this  war  will  have  to  be  righted. 
That  of  course.  But  they  cannot  and  must 
not  be  righted  by  the  commission  of  similar 
wrongs  against  Germany  and  her  allies.  The 
world  will  not  permit  the  commission  of  simi- 
lar wrongs  as  a  means  of  reparation  and  settle- 
ment. Statesmen  must  by  this  time  have 
learned  that  the  opinion  of  the  world  is  every- 
where wide  awake  and  fully  comprehends  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     121 

issues  involved.  No  representative  of  any  self- 
governed  nation  will  dare  disregard  it  by  at- 
tempting any  such  covenants  of  seLfishness  and 
compromise  as  were  entered  into  at  the  congress 
of  Vienna. 

The  thought  of  the  plain  people  here  and 
everywhere  throughout  the  world,  the  people 
who  enjoy  no  privilege  and  have  very  simple 
and  unsophisticated  standards  of  right  and 
wrong,  is  the  air  all  governments  must  hence- 
forth breathe  if  they  would  live.  It  is  in  the 
full  disclosing  light  of  that  thought  that  all 
policies  must  be  conceived  and  executed  in  this 
midday  hour  of  the  world's  life. 

German  rulers  have  been  able  to  upset  the 
peace  of  the  world  only  because  the  German 
people  were  not  suffered,  under  their  tutelage, 
to  share  the  comradeship  of  the  other  peoples 
of  the  world  either  in  thought  or  in  purpose. 
They  were  allowed  to  have  no  opinion  of  their 
own  which  might  be  set  up  as  a  rule  of  conduct 
for  those  who  exercised  authority  over  them. 
But  the  congress  that  concludes  this  war  will 
feel  the  full  strength  of  the  tides  that  run  now 
in  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  free  men  every- 
where. Its  conclusions  will  run  with  those 
tides. 

All  these  things  have  been  true  from  the  very 
beginning  of  this  stupendous  war;  and  I  can- 
not help  thinMng  that  if  they  had  been  made 
plain  at  the  very  outset  the  sympathy  and  en- 


122     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

thusiasm  of  the  Russian  people  might  have 
been  once  for  all  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the 
AlHes,  suspicion  and  distrust  swept  away,  and 
a  real  and  lasting  union  of  purpose  effected. 
Had  they  believed  these  things  at  the  very  mo- 
ment of  their  revolution,  and  had  they  been 
confirmed  in  that  belief  since,  the  sad  reverses 
which  have  recently  marked  the  progress  of 
their  affairs  toward  an  ordered  and  stable  gov- 
ernment of  free  men  might  have  been  avoided. 

TRUTH   AS   THE   ANTIDOTE 

The  Russian  people  have  been  poisoned  by 
the  very  same  falsehoods  that  have  kept  the 
German  people  in  the  dark,  and  the  poison  has 
been  administered  by  the  very  same  hands. 
The  only  possible  antidote  is  the  truth.  It 
cannot  be  uttered  too  plainly  or  too  often. 

From  every  point  of  view,  therefore,  it  has 
seemed  to  be  my  duty  to  speak  these  declara- 
tions of  purpose,  to  add  these  specific  interpre- 
tations to  what  I  took  the  liberty  of  saying  to 
the  Senate  in  January.  Our  entrance  into  the 
war  has  not  altered  our  attitude  toward  the 
settlement  that  must  come  when  it  is  over. 
When  I  said  in  January  that  the  nations  of 
the  world  were  entitled  not  only  to  free  path- 
ways upon  the  sea,  but  also  to  assured  and  un- 
molested access  to  those  pathways,  I  was 
thinking,  and  I  am  thinking  now,  not  of  the 
smaller  and  weaker  nations  alone,  which  need 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     123 

our  countenance  and  support,  but  also  of  the 
great  and  powerful  nations,  and  of  our  present 
enemies  as  well  as  our  present  associates  in  the 
war.  I  was  thinking,  and  am  thinking  now, 
of  Austria  herself,  among  the  rest,  as  well  as 
of  Serbia  and  of  Poland.  Justice  and  equal- 
ity of  rights  can  be  had  only  at  a  great  price. 
We  are  seeking  permanent,  not  temporary, 
foundations  for  the  peace  of  the  world,  and 
must  seek  them  candidly  and  fearlessly.  As 
always,  the  right  will  prove  to  be  the  expedient. 
What  shall  we  do,  then,  to  push  this  great 
war  of  freedom  and  justice  to  its  righteous  con- 
clusion ?  We  must  clear  away  with  a  thorough 
hand  all  impediments  to  success,  and  we  must 
make  every  adjustment  of  law  that  will  facili- 
tate the  full  and  free  use  of  our  whole  capacity 
and  force  as  a  fighting  unit. 

THE   WAR  AGAINST  AUSTRIA 

One  very  embarrassing  obstacle  that  stands 
in  our  way  is  that  we  are  at  war  with  Germany, 
but  not  with  her  allies.  I  therefore  very  ear- 
nestly recommend  that  the  Congress  immedi- 
ately declare  the  United  States  in  a  state  of 
war  \/ith  Austria-Hungary.  Does  it  seem 
strange  to  you  that  this  should  be  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  argument  I  have  just  addressed  to 
you?  It  is  not.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  inevitable 
logic  of  what  I  have  said.  Austria-Hungary  is 
for  the  time  being  not  her  own  mistress,  but 


124     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

simply  the  vassal  of  the  German  Government. 
We  must  face  the  facts  as  they  are  and  act 
upon  them  without  sentiment  in  this  stem 
business. 

The  Government  of  Austria-Hungary  is  not 
acting  upon  its  own  initiative  or  in  response  to 
the  wishes  and  feelings  of  its  own  peoples,  but 
as  the  instrument  of  another  nation.  We  must 
meet  its  force  with  our  own  and  regard  the 
Central  Powers  as  but  one.  The  war  can  be 
successfully  conducted  in  no  other  way.  The 
same  logic  would  lead  also  to  a  declaration  of 
war  against  Turkey  and  Bulgaria.  They  also 
are  the  tools  of  Germany.  But  they  are  mere 
tools,  and  do  not  yet  stand  in  the  direct  path 
of  our  necessary  action.  We  shall  go  wherever 
the  necessities  of  this  war  carry  us,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  we  should  go  only  where  immediate 
and  practical  considerations  lead  us,  and  not 
heed  any  others. 

A  STRICTER  GRIP  ON  ENEMY  ALIENS 

The  financial  and  military  measures  which 
must  be  adopted  will  suggest  themselves  as  the 
war  and  its  undertakings  develop,  but  I  will 
take  the  Hberty  of  proposing  to  you  certain 
other  acts  of  legislation  which  seem  to  me  to 
be  needed  for  the  support  of  the  war  and  for 
the  release  of  our  whole  force  and  energy. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  extend  in  certain  par- 
ticulars the  legislation  of  the  last  session  with 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     125 

regard  to  alien  enemies;  and  also  necessary,  I 
believe,  to  create  a  very  definite  and  particular 
control  over  the  entrance  and  departure  of  all 
persons  into  and  from  the  United  States. 

Legislation  should  be  enacted  defining  as  a 
criminal  offense  every  wilful  violation  of  the 
Presidential  proclamations  relating  to  enemy 
aliens  promulgated  under  Section  4067  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  and  providing  appropriate 
punishment ;  and  women  as  well  as  men  shoiild 
be  included  under  the  terms  of  the  acts  placing 
restraints  upon  ahen  enemies.  It  is  likely  that 
as  time  goes  on  many  ahen  enemies  will  be 
willing  to  be  fed  and  housed  at  the  expense  of 
the  Government  in  the  detention  camps,  and 
it  would  be  the  purpose  of  the  legislation  I  have 
suggested  to  confine  offenders  among  them  in 
penitentiaries  and  other  similar  institutions, 
where  they  could  be  made  to  work  as  other 
criminals  do. 

A  FURTHER   LIMITING  OF   PRICES 

Recent  experience  has  convinced  me  that 
the  Congress  must  go  further  in  authorizing 
the  Government  to  set  limits  to  prices.  The 
law  of  supply  and  demand,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
has  been  replaced  by  the  law  of  unrestrained 
selfishness.  While  we  have  eliminated  profit- 
eering in  several  branches  of  industry,  it  still 
runs  impudently  rampant  in  others .  The  farm- 
ers, for  example,  complain  with  a  great  deal 


126    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

of  justice  that,  while  the  regulation  of  food 
prices  restricts  their  incomes,  no  restraints  are 
placed  upon  the  prices  of  most  of  the  things 
they  must  themselves  purchase;  and  similar 
inequities  obtain  on  all  sides. 

It  is  imperatively  necessary  that  the  con- 
sideration of  the  full  use  of  the  water  power  of 
the  country,  and  also  the  consideration  of  the 
systematic  and  yet  economical  development  of 
such  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country 
as  are  still  under  the  control  of  the  Federal 
Government,  should  be  resumed  and  affirma- 
tively and  constructively  dealt  with  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment.  The  pressing  need 
of  such  legislation  is  daily  becoming  more 
obvious. 

The  legislation  proposed  at  the  last  session 
with  regard  to  regulated  combinations  among 
our  exporters,  in  order  to  provide  for  oiu*  for- 
eign trade  a  more  effective  organization  and 
method  of  co-operation,  ought  by  all  means  to 
be  completed  at  this  session. 

And  I  beg  that  the  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  will  permit  me  to  express  the 
opinion  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  deal  in 
any  way  but  a  very  wasteful  and  extravagant 
fashion  with  the  enormous  appropriations  of 
the  public  moneys  which  must  continue  to  be 
made,  if  the  war  is  to  be  properly  sustained, 
unless  the  House  will  consent  to  return  to  its 
former  practice  of  initiating  and  preparing  all 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     127 

appropriation  bills  through  a  single  committee, 
in  order  that  responsibility  may  be  centered, 
expenditures  standardized  and  made  uniform, 
and  waste  and  duplication  as  much  as  possible 
avoided. 

Additional  legislation  may  also  become  nec- 
essary before  the  present  Congress  adjourns,  in 
order  to  effect  the  most  efficient  co-ordination 
and  operation  of  the  railway  and  other  trans- 
portation systems  of  the  country;  but  to  that 
I  shall,  if  circumstances  should  demand,  call 
the  attention  of  Congress  upon  another  occasion. 

THE   WINNING   OF  THE  WAR 

If  I  have  overlooked  anything  that  ought  to 
be  done  for  the  more  effective  conduct  of  the 
war,  your  own  counsels  will  supply  the  omis- 
sion. What  I  am  perfectly  clear  about  is  that, 
in  the  present  session  of  the  Congress,  our 
whole  attention  and  energy  should  be  con- 
centrated on  the  vigorous  and  rapid  and  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  the  great  task  of  winning 
the  war. 

We  can  do  this  with  all  the  greater  zeal  and 
enthusiasm  because  we  know  that  for  us  this  is 
a  war  of  high  principle,  debased  by  no  selfish 
ambition  of  conquest  or  spoliation;  because  we 
know,  and  all  the  world  knows,  that  we  have 
been  forced  into  it  to  save  the  very  institutions 
we  live  under  from  corruption  and  destruction. 
The  purposes  of  the  Central  Powers  strike 


128     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

straight  at  the  very  heart  of  everything  we  be- 
lieve in ;  their  methods  of  warfare  outrage  every 
principle  of  humanity  and  of  knightly  honor; 
theirintriguehascorruptedtheverythoughtand 
spirit  of  many  of  our  people ;  their  sinister  and 
secret  diplomacy  has  sought  to  take  our  very 
territory  away  from  us  and  disrupt  the  union 
of  the  States.  Our  safety  would  be  at  an  end, 
our  honor  forever  sullied  and  brought  into  con- 
tempt, were  we  to  permit  their  triumph.  They 
are  striking  at  the  very  existence  of  democracy 
and  liberty. 

It  is  because  it  is  for  us  a  war  of  high,  disin- 
terested purpose,  in  which  all  the  free  people 
of  the  world  are  banded  together  for  the  vindi- 
cation of  right,  a  war  for  the  preservation  of 
our  nation  and  of  all  that  it  has  held  dear  of 
principle  and  of  purpose,  that  we  feel  ourselves 
doubly  constrained  to  propose  for  its  outcome 
only  that  which  is  righteous  and  of  irreproach- 
able intention,  for  our  foes  as  well  as  for  our 
friends. 

The  cause  being  just  and  holy,  the  settle- 
ment must  be  of  like  motive  and  quality.  For 
this  we  can  fight,  but  for  nothing  less  noble  or 
less  worthy  of  our  traditions.  For  this  cause 
we  entered  the  war,  and  for  this  cause  we  will 
battle  until  the  last  gun  is  fired. 

I  have  spoken  plainly  because  this  seems  to 
me  the  time  when  it  is  most  necessary  to  speak 
plainly,  in  order  that  all  the  world  may  know 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     129 

that  even  in  the  heat  and  ardor  of  the  struggle, 
and  when  our  whole  thought  is  of  carrying  the 
war  through  to  its  end,  we  have  not  forgotten 
any  ideal  or  principle  for  which  the  name  of 
America  has  been  held  in  honor  among  the 
nations  and  for  which  it  has  been  our  glory  to 
contend  in  the  great  generations  that  went 
before  us. 

A  supreme  moment  of  history  has  come. 
The  eyes  of  the  people  have  been  opened  and 
they  see.  The  hand  of  God  is  laid  upon  the 
nations.  He  will  show  them  favor,  I  devoutly 
believe,  only  if  they  rise  to  the  clear  heights  of 
His  own  justice  and  mercy. 


XVIII 

PROCLAMATION    OF    WAR    AGAINST    AUSTRIA- 
HUNGARY 

{December  12,  1917) 

The  President's  proclamation,  after  citing 
the  resolution  of  Congress  authorizing  the  war 
with  Austria,  says : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America,  do  hereby 
proclaim  to  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  a 
state  of  war  exists  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Austro-Hungarian 
Government,  and  I  do  specially  direct  aU  offi- 
cers, civil  or  military,  of  the  United  States 
that  they  exercise  vigilance  and  zeal  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  incident  to  such  a 
state  of  war. 

And  I  do,  moreover,  earnestly  appeal  to  all 
American  citizens  that  they,  in  loyal  devotion 
to  their  coimtry,  dedicated  from  its  foundation 
to  the  principles  of  Hberty  and  justice,  uphold 
the  laws  of  the  land  and  give  undivided  and 
willing  support  to  those  measures  which  may 
be  adopted  by  the  constitutional  authorities 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     131 

in  prosecuting  the  war  to  a  successful  issue 
and  obtaining  a  secure  and  just  peace. 

NEED  ONLY  OBEY  THE  LAWS 

And,  acting  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  au- 
thority vested  in  me  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  aforesaid  sections  of 
the  Revised  Statutes,  I  do  hereby  further  pro- 
claim and  direct  that  the  conduct  to  be  ob- 
served on  the  part  of  the  United  States  toward 
all  natives,  citizens,  denizens  or  subjects  of 
Austria-Hungary,  being  males  of  the  age  of 
fourteen  years  and  upward,  who  shall  be  within 
the  United  States  and  not  actually  naturalized, 
shall  be  as  follows : 

All  natives,  citizens,  denizens  or  subjects  of  Austria- 
Hungary,  being  males  of  fourteen  years  and  upward 
who  shall  be  within  the  United  States  and  not  actually 
naturalized,  are  enjoined  to  preserve  the  peace  toward 
the  United  States  and  to  refrain  from  crime  against 
the  public  safety  and  from  violating  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  States  and  Territories  thereof. 

And  to  refrain  from  actual  hostility  or  giving  infor- 
mation, aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United 
States. 

And  to  comply  strictly  with  the  regulations  which 
are  hereby  or  which  may  be,  from  time  to  time,  promul- 
gated by  the  President. 

And  so  long  as  they  shall  conduct  themselves  in 
accordance  with  law,  they  shall  be  undisturbed  in  the 
peaceful  pursuit  of  their  lives  and  occupations  and  be 
accorded  the  consideration  due  to  all  peaceful  and  law- 
abiding  persons,  except  so  far  as  restrictions  may  be 


132     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

necessary  for  their  own  protection  and  for  the  safety 
of  the  United  States. 

A  FRIENDLY  ATTITUDE   IS  URGED 

And  toward  such  of  said  persons  'as  con- 
duct themselves  in  accordance  with  law,  all 
citizens  of  the  United  States  are  enjoined  to 
preserve  the  peace  and  to  treat  them  with  all 
such  friendliness  as  may  be  compatible  with 
loyalty  and  allegiance  to  the  United  States. 

And  all  natives,  citizens,  denizens  or  sub- 
jects of  Austria-Hungary,  being  males  of  the 
age  of  fourteen  years  and  upward,  who  shall 
be  within  the  United  States  and  not  actually 
naturalized,  who  fail  to  conduct  themselves  as 
so  enjoined,  in  addition  to  all  other  penalties 
prescribed  by  law,  shall  be  liable  to  restraint 
or  to  give  security,  or  to  remove  and  depart 
from  the  United  States  in  the  manner  pre- 
scribed by  Sections  4069  and  4070  of  the  Re- 
vised Statutes  and  as  prescribed  in  regulations 
duly  promulgated  by  the  President : 

FEW  REGULATIONS 

And  pursuant  to  the  authority  vested  in 
me,  I  hereby  declare  and  establish  the  follow- 
ing regulations,  which  I  find  necessary  in  the 
premises,  and  for  the  public  safety: 

I.  No  native,  citizen,  denizen  or  subject  of  Austria- 
Hungary,  being  a  male  of  the  age  of  fourteen  years  and 
upward  and  not  actually  naturalized,  shall  depart  from 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     133 

the  United  Sta±es  until  he  shall  have  received  such  per- 
mit as  the  President  shall  prescribe,  or  except  under  order 
of  a  court,  judge  or  justice,  under  Sections  4069  and  4070 
of  the  Revised  Statutes. 

2.  No  such  person  shall  land  or  enter  the  United 
States  except  under  such  restrictions  and  at  such  places 
as  the  President  may  prescribe. 

3.  Every  such  person,  of  whom  there  may  be  reason- 
able cause  to  believe  that  he  is  aiding  or  about  to  aid  the 
enemy,  or  who  may  be  at  large  to  the  danger  of  the  public 
peace  or  safety,  or  who  violates  or  attempts  to  violate, 
or  of  whom  there  is  reasonable  ground  to  believe  that  he 
is  about  to  violate  any  regulation  duly  promulgated  by 
the  President,  or  any  criminal  law  of  the  United  States, 
or  of  the  States  or  Territories  thereof,  will  be  subject  to 
summary  arrest  by  the  United  States  Marshal  or  his 
deputy,  or  such  other  officers  as  the  President  shall  desig- 
nate, and  to  confinement  in  such  penitentiary,  prison, 
jail,  military  camp  or  other  place  of  detention  as  may 
be  directed  by  the  President. 

This  proclamation  and  the  regulations 
herein  contained  shall  extend  and  apply  to  all 
land  and  water,  continental  or  insular,  in  any 
way  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States. 


XIX 

THE    GOVERNMENT    TAKES    OVER    THE 
RAILROADS 

(A  Statement  by  the  President,  December  26,  igi7) 

I  have  exercised  the  powers  over  the  trans- 
portation systems  of  the  country  which  were 
granted  me  by  the  Act  of  Congress  of  Au- 
gust, 1 91 6,  because  it  has  become  imperatively 
necessary  for  me  to  do  so. 

This  is  a  war  of  resources  no  less  than  of 
men,  perhaps  even  more  than  of  men,  and  it 
is  necessary  for  the  complete  mobilization  of 
our  resources  that  the  transportation  systems 
of  the  country  should  be  organized  and  em- 
ployed under  a  single  authority  and  a  simpli- 
fied method  of  co-ordination  which  have  not 
proved  possible  under  private  management 
and  control. 

The  committee  of  railway  executives  who 
have  been  co-operating  with  the  Government 
in  this  all-important  matter  have  done  the  ut- 
most that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  do;  have 
done  it  with  patriotic  zeal  and  with  great  abil- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     135 

ity ;  but  there  were  differences  that  they  could 
neither  escape  nor  neutralize. 


IN   FAIRNESS  TO   THE   RAILROADS 

Complete  unity  of  administration  in  the 
present  circumstances  involves  upon  occasion 
and  at  many  points  a  serious  dislocation  of 
earnings,  and  the  committee  was,  of  course, 
without  power  or  authority  to  rearrange  changes 
or  effect  proper  compensations  and  adjustments 
of  earnings.  Several  roads  which  were  will- 
ingly and  with  admirable  public  spirit  accept- 
ing the  orders  of  the  committee  have  already 
suffered  from  these  circumstances  and  should 
not  be  required  to  suffer  further.  In  mere 
fairness  to  them  the  full  authority  of  the 
Government  must  be  substituted. 

The  Government  itself  will  thereby  gain 
an  immense  increase  of  efficiency  in  the 
conduct  of  the  war  and  of  the  innumerable 
activities  upon  which  its  successful  conduct 
depends. 

The  public  interest  must  be  first  served,  and 
in  addition  the  financial  interests  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  financial  interests  of  the  rail- 
ways must  be  brought  under  a  common  direc- 
tion. The  financial  operations  of  the  railways 
need  not  then  interfere  with  the  borrowings  of 
the  Government,  and  they  themselves  can  be 

conducted  at  a  great  advantage. 
10 


136    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

INVESTORS  TO  BE  PROTECTED 

Investors  in  railway  securities  may  rest  as- 
sured that  their  rights  and  interests  will  be  as 
scrupulously  looked  after  by  the  Government 
as  they  could  be  by  the  directors  of  the 
several  railway  systems.  Immediately  upon 
the  reassembling  of  Congress  I  shall  recom- 
mend that  these  definite  guarantees  be  given: 

First,  of  course,  that  the  railway  properties 
will  be  maintained  during  the  period  of  Fed- 
eral control  in  as  good  repair  and  as  complete 
equipment  as  when  taken  over  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, and,  second,  that  the  roads  shall  re- 
ceive a  net  operating  income  equal  in  each  case 
to  the  average  net  income  of  the  three  years 
preceding  June  30,  191 7;  and  I  am  entirely 
confident  that  the  Congress  will  be  disposed 
in  this  case,  as  in  others,  to  see  that  justice 
is  done  and  full  security  assured  to  the  own- 
ers and  creditors  of  the  great  systems  which 
the  Government  must  now  use  under  its  own 
direction  or  else  suffer  serious  embarrassment. 

The  Secretary  of  War  and  I  are  agreed  that, 
all  the  circumstances  being  taken  into  consid- 
eration, the  best  results  can  be  obtained  under 
the  immediate  executive  direction  of  the  Hon. 
William  G.  McAdoo,  whose  practical  experi- 
ence peculiarly  fits  him  for  the  service,  and 
whose  authority  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
will  enable  him  to  co-ordinate,  as  no  other  man 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     137 

could,  the  many  financial  interests  which  will 
be  involved  and  which  might,  unless  systemat- 
ically directed,  suffer  very  embarrassing  en- 
tanglements. 

A  RECOGNITION   OP  FACTS 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  the 
only  great  Government  now  engaged  in  the 
war  which  has  not  already  assumed  control  of 
this  sort.  It  was  thought  to  be  in  the  spirit 
of  American  institutions  to  attempt  to  do 
everything  that  was  necessary  through  private 
management,  and  if  zeal  and  ability  and  patri- 
otic motive  could  have  accomplished  the  nec- 
essary unification  of  administration,  it  would 
certainly  have  been  accomplished;  but  no  zeal 
or  abiHty  could  overcome  insuperable  obstacles 
and  I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  recognize 
that  fact  in  all  candor,  now  that  it  is  demon- 
strated, and  to  use  without  reserve  the  great 
authority  reposed  in  me. 

A  great  national  necessity  dictated  the  ac- 
tion, and  I  was  therefore  not  at  liberty  to 
abstain  from  it. 

WooDROw  Wilson. 

The  text  of  the  proclamation  follows : 

Whereas,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  constitutional  authority  vested  in  them,  by 
joint  resolution  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, bearing  date  April  6,  191 7,  resolved: 


138     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

**That  the  state  of  war  between  the  United  States  and 
the  Imperial  German  Government  which  has  thus  been 
thrust  upon  the  United  States  is  hereby  formally  de- 
clared, and  that  the  President  be,  and  he  is  hereby, 
authorized  and  directed  to  employ  the  entire  naval 
and  miUtary  forces  of  the  United  States  and  the  re- 
sources of  the  Government  to  carry  on  war  against 
the  Imperial  German  Government,  and  to  bring  the 
conflict  to  a  successful  termination,  all  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  country  are  hereby  pledged  by  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States." 

And  by  joint  resolution  bearing  date  of  December 

7,  191 7,  resolved: 

**That  a  state  of  war  is  hereby  declared  to  exist  between 
the  United  States  of  America  and  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Austro-Hungarian  Government,  and  that  the 
President  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  and  di- 
rected to  employ  the  entire  naval  and  military  forces 
of  the  United  States  and  the  resources  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  carry  on  war  against  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Austro-Hungarian  Government,  and  to  bring  the 
conflict  to  a  successful  termination,  all  the  resources 
of  the  country  are  hereby  pledged  by  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States." 

And  whereas,  it  is  provided  by  Section  i  of  the  act 
approved  August  29,  1916,  entitled  "An  act  making 
appropriations  for  the  support  of  the  army  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  June  30,  191 7,  and  for  other  purposes,"  as 
follows: 

**The  President,  in  time  of  war,  is  empowered,  through 
the  Secretary  of  War,  to  take  possession  and  assume 
control  of  any  system  or  systems  of  transportation, 
or  any  part  thereof,  and  to  utilize  the  same,  to  the 
exclusion  as  far  as  may  be  necessary  of  all  other 
traffic  thereon,  for  the  transfer  or  transportation  of 
troops,  war  material  and  equipment,  or  for  such  other 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     139 

purposes  connected  with  the  emergency  as  may  be 
needful  or  desirable." 

And  whereas,  it  has  now  become  necessary  in  the 
national  defense  to  take  possession  and  assume  control  of 
certain  systems  of  transportation  and  to  utilize  the  same, 
to  the  exclusion  as  far  as  may  be  necessary  of  other  than 
war  traffic  thereon  for  the  transportation  of  troops,  war 
material  and  equipment  therefor,  and  for  other  needful 
and  desirable  purposes  connected  with  the  prosecution 
of  the  war. 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of  the 
United  States,  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested 
in  me  by  the  foregoing  resolutions  and  statute,  and  by 
virtue  of  all  other  powers  thereto  me  enabling,  do  hereby, 
through  Newton  D.  Baker,  Secretary  of  War,  take  pos- 
session and  assume  control  at  12  o'clock  noon  on  the 
twenty-eighth  day  of  December,  191 7,  of  each  and  every 
system  of  transportation  and  the  appurtenances  thereof 
located  wholly  or  in  part  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
continental  United  States  and  consisting  of  railroads,  and 
owned  or  controlled  systems  of  coastwise  and  inland 
transportation,  engaged  in  general  transportation, 
whether  operated  by  steam  or  by  electric  power,  including 
also  terminals,  terminal  companies  and  terminal  associa- 
tions, sleeping  and  parlor  cars,  private  cars  and  private 
car  Hnes,  elevators,  warehouses,  telegraph  and  telephone 
lines  and  all  other  equipment  and  appurtenances  com- 
monly used  upon  or  operated  as  a  part  of  such  rail  or 
combined  rail  and  water  systems  of  transportation,  to 
the  end  that  such  systems  of  transportation  be  utiHzed 
for  the  transfer  and  transportation  of  troops,  war  ma- 
terial and  equipment  to  the  exclusion  so  far  as  may  be 
necessary  of  all  other  traffic  thereon,  and  that  so  far  as 
such  exclusive  use  be  not  necessary  or  desirable,  such 
systems  of  transportation  be  operated  and  utilized  in  the 
performance  of  such  other  services  as  the  national  interest 


140    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

may  require  and  of  the  usual  and  ordinary  business  and 
duties  of  common  carriers. 

It  is  hereby  directed  that  the  possession,  control,  op- 
eration and  utilization  of  such  transportation  systems 
hereby  by  me  undertaken  shall  be  exercised  by  and 
through  William  G.  McAdoo,  who  is  hereby  appointed 
and  designated  Director-General  of  Railroads. 

Said  director  may  perform  the  duties  imposed  upon 
him,  so  long  and  to  such  extent  as  he  shall  determine, 
through  the  boards  of  directors,  receivers,  officers  and 
employees  of  said  systems  of  transportation.  Until  and 
except  so  far  as  said  director  shall  from  time  to  time  by 
general  or  special  orders  otherwise  provide,  the  boards 
of  directors,  receivers,  officers  and  employees  of  the  vari- 
ous transportation  systems  shall  continue  the  operation 
thereof  in  the  usual  and  ordinary  course  of  the  business 
of  common  carriers,  in  the  names  of  their  respective 
companies. 

Until  and  except  so  far  as  said  director  shall  from 
time  to  time  otherwise  by  general  or  special  orders  deter- 
mine, such  systems  of  transportation  shall  remain  subject 
to  all  existing  statutes  and  orders  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission,  and  to  all  statutes  and  orders  of  regu- 
lating commissions  of  the  various  States  in  which  said 
systems  or  any  part  thereof  may  be  situated.  But  any 
orders,  general  or  special,  hereafter  made  by  said  director 
shall  have  paramount  authority  and  be  obeyed  as  such. 

Nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  as  now  affecting 
the  possession,  operation  and  control  of  street  electric 
passenger  railways,  including  railways  commonly  called 
interurban,  whether  such  railways  be  or  be  not  owned  or 
controlled  by  such  railroad  companies  or  systems.  By 
subsequent  order  and  proclamation,  if  and  when  it  shall 
be  found  necessary  or  desirable,  possession,  control  or 
operation  may  be  taken  of  all  or  any  part  of  such  street 
railway  systems,  including  subways  and  tunnels,  and  by 
subsequent  order  and  proclamation  possession,  control 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     141 

and  operation  in  whole  or  in  part  may  also  be  relinquished 
to  the  owners  thereof  of  any  part  of  the  railroad  systems 
or  rail  and  water  systems,  possession  and  control  of  which 
are  hereby  assumed. 

The  director  shall  as  soon  as  may  be  after  having 
assimied  such  possession  and  control  enter  upon  nego- 
tiations with  the  several  companies  looking  to  agree- 
ments for  just  and  reasonable  compensation  for  the 
possession,  use  and  control  of  the  respective  properties 
on  the  basis  of  an  annual  guaranteed  compensation, 
above  accruing  depreciation  and  the  maintenance  of 
their  properties,  equivalent,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  to  the 
average  of  the  net  operating  income  thereof  for  the  three 
year  period  ending  Jime  30,  1917 — ^the  results  of  such 
negotiations  to  be  reported  to  me  for  such  action  as  may 
be  appropriate  and  lawful. 

But  nothing  herein  contained,  expressed  or  implied, 
or  hereafter  done  or  suffered  hereimder,  shall  be  deemed 
in  any  way  to  impair  the  rights  of  the  stockholders, 
bondholders,  creditors  and  other  persons  having  inter- 
ests in  said  systems  of  transportation  or  in  the  profits 
thereof,  to  receive  just  and  adequate  compensation  for 
the  use  and  control  and  operation  of  their  property 
hereby  assimied. 

Regular  dividends  hitherto  declared,  and  maturing 
interest  upon  bonds,  debentures  and  other  obligations, 
may  be  paid  in  due  course,  and  such  regular  dividends 
and  interest  may  continue  to  be  paid  until  and  unless 
the  said  director  shall  from  time  to  time  otherwise  by 
general  or  special  orders  determine,  and,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  director,  the  various  carriers  may  agree 
upon  and  arrange  for  the  renewal  and  extension  of 
maturing  obligations. 

Except  with  the  prior  written  assent  of  said  director, 
no  attachment  by  n:esne  process  or  on  execution  shall 
be  levied  on  or  against  any  of  the  property  used  by  any 
of  saidtransportation  systems,  in  the  conduct  of  their 


142     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

business  as  common  carriers;  but  suits  may  be  brought 
by  and  against  said  carriers  and  judgments  rendered  as 
hitherto  until  and  except  so  far  as  said  director  may,  by 
general  or  special  orders,  otherwise  determine. 

From  and  after  12  o'clock  on  said  twenty-eighth  day  of 
December,  191 7,  all  transportation  systems  included  in 
this  order  and  proclamation  shall  conclusively  be  deemed 
within  the  possession  and  control  of  said  director  without 
further  act  or  notice,  but  for  the  purpose  of  accounting 
said  possession  and  control  shall  date  from  12  o'clock 
midnight  on  December  31,  191 7. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  by  the  President,  through  Newton  D.  Baker, 
Secretary  of  War,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  this 
twenty -sixth  day  of  December,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventeen,  and  of  Inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States  the  one  hundred  and 
forty-second. 

WooDRow  Wilson. 

Newton  D.  Baker,  Secretary  of  War. 
By  the  President : 
Robert  Lansing,  Secretary  of  State. 


XX 

GOVERNMENT  OPERATION  OF  RAILROADS 
{Address  to  the  Congress,  January  4,  igi8) 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress, — I  have 
asked  the  privilege  of  addressing  you  in  order 
to  report  that  on  the  28th  of  December  last, 
during  the  recess  of  Congress,  acting  through 
the  Secretary  of  War,  and  under  the  authority 
conferred  upon  me  by  the  Act  of  Congress  ap- 
proved August  29,  19 16,  I  took  possession  and 
assumed  control  of  the  railway  lines  of  the 
coimtry  and  the  systems  of  water  transporta- 
tion under  their  control.  This  step  seemed  to 
be  imperatively  necessary  in  the  interest  of  the 
public  welfare,  in  the  presence  of  the  great 
tasks  of  war  with  which  we  are  now  dealing. 
As  our  experience  develops  difficulties  and 
makes  it  clear  what  they  are,  I  have  deemed 
it  my  duty  to  remove  those  difficulties  wher- 
ever I  have  the  legal  power  to  do  so. 

To  assume  control  of  the  vast  railway  sys- 
tems of  the  country  is,  I  realize,  a  very  great  re- 
sponsibility, but  to  fail  to  do  so  in  the  existing 
circumstances  would  have  been  much  greater. 


144    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

I  assumed  the  less  responsibility  rather  than 
the  weightier. 

NEED   OF   UNITED  DIRECTION 

I  am  sure  that  I  am  speaking  the  mind  of 
all  thoughtful  Americans  when  I  say  that  it  is 
our  duty  as  the  representatives  of  the  nation 
to  do  everything  that  it  is  necessary  to  do  to 
secure  the  complete  mobilization  of  the  whole 
resources  of  America  by  as  rapid  and  effective 
a  means  as  can  be  found.  Transportation 
supplies  all  the  arteries  of  mobilization.  Un- 
less it  be  under  a  single  and  unified  direction, 
the  whole  process  of  the  nation's  action  is 
embarrassed. 

It  was  in  the  true  spirit  of  America,  and  it 
was  right,  that  we  should  first  try  to  effect  the 
necessary  unification  under  the  voluntary  ac- 
tion of  those  who  were  in  charge  of  the  great 
railway  properties,  and  we  did  try  it.  The 
directors  of  the  railways  responded  to  the  need 
promptly  and  generously.  The  group  of  rail- 
way executives  who  were  charged  with  the 
task  of  actual  co-ordination  and  general  direc- 
tion performed  their  difficult  duties  with  patri- 
otic zeal  and  marked  ability,  as  was  to  have 
been  expected,  and  did,  I  believe,  everything 
that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  do  in  the  cir- 
cumstances. If  I  have  taken  the  task  out  of 
their  hands,  it  has  not  been  because  of  any 
dereHction  or  failure  on  their  part,  but  only 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     145 

because  there  were  some  things  which  the 
Government  can  do,  and  private  management 
cannot.  We  shall  continue  to  value  most 
highly  the  advice  and  assistance  of  these 
gentlemen,  and  I  am  sure  we  shall  not  find 
them  withholding  it. 

It  had  become  unmistakably  plain  that  only 
under  Government  administration  can  the  en- 
tire equipment  of  the  several  systems  of  trans- 
portation be  fully  and  unreservedly  thrown 
into  a  common  service  without  injiuious  dis- 
crimination against  particular  properties ;  only 
under  Government  administration  can  abso- 
lutely unrestricted  and  unembarrassed  com- 
mon use  be  made  of  all  tracks,  terminal  facili- 
ties and  equipment  of  every  kind.  Only  tmder 
that  authority  can  new  terminals  be  con- 
structed and  developed  without  regard  to  the 
requirements  or  limitations  of  particular  roads. 
But  under  Government  administration  aU  these 
things  will  be  possible — not  instantly,  but  as 
fast  as  practical  difficulties,  which  cannot  be 
merely  conjured  away,  give  way  before  the 
new  management. 

AS   LITTLE   DISTURBANCE  AS  POSSIBLE 

The  common  administration  will  be  carried 
out  with  as  little  disturbance  of  the  present 
operating  organizations  and  personnel  of  the 
railways  as  possible.  Nothing  will  be  altered 
or  disturbed  which  is  not  necessary  to  disturb. 


146    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

We  are  serving  the  public  interest  and  safe- 
guarding the  public  safety,  but  we  are  also 
regardful  of  the  interest  of  those  by  whom 
these  great  properties  are  owned  and  glad  to 
avail  ourselves  of  the  experience  and  trained 
ability  of  those  who  have  been  managing  them. 
It  is  necessary  that  the  transportation  of  troops 
and  of  war  materials,  of  food  and  of  fuel,  and 
of  everything  that  is  necessary  for  the  full  mo- 
bilization of  the  energies  and  resources  of  the 
country,  should  be  first  considered;  but  it  is 
clearly  in  the  public  interest  also  that  the  or- 
dinary activities  and  the  normal  industrial  and 
commercial  life  of  the  country  should  be  inter- 
fered with  and  dislocated  as  little  as  possible, 
and  the  public  may  rest  assured  that  the  inter- 
est and  convenience  of  the  private  shipper  will 
be  carefully  served  and  safeguarded  as  it  is 
possible  to  serve  and  safeguard  it  in  the  present 
extraordinary  circumstances. 

COMPENSATION  SHOULD  BE  GUARANTEED 

While  the  present  authority  of  the  Execu- 
tive suffices  for  all  purposes  of  administration, 
and  while,  of  course,  all  private  interests  must 
for  the  present  give  way  to  the  public  neces- 
sity, it  is,  I  am  sure  you  will  agree  with  me, 
right  and  necessary  that  the  owners  and  credi- 
tors of  the  railways,  the  holders  of  their  stocks 
and  bonds,  should  receive  from  the  Govern- 
ment an  unqualified  guarantee  that  their  prop- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     147 

erties  will  be  maintained  throughout  the  period 
of  Federal  control  in  as  good  repair  and  as  com- 
plete equipment  as  at  present,  and  that  the 
several  roads  will  receive,  under  Federal  man- 
agement, such  compensation  as  is  equitable 
and  just  alike  to  their  owners  and  to  the  gen- 
eral public.  I  would  suggest  the  average  net 
railway  operating  income  of  the  three  years 
ending  June  30,  191 7.  I  earnestly  recommend 
that  these  guarantees  be  given  by  appropriate 
legislation,  and  given  as  promptly  as  circum- 
stances permit. 

I  need  not  point  out  the  essential  justice  of 
such  guarantees  and  their  great  influence  and 
significance  as  elements  in  the  present  finan- 
cial and  industrial  situation  of  the  country. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  strong  arguments  for  as- 
suming control  of  the  railroads  at  this  time  is 
the  financial  argument.  It  is  necessary  that 
the  values  of  railway  securities  should  be  justly 
and  fairly  protected,  and  that  the  largest  finan- 
cial operations  every  year  necessary  in  connec- 
tion with  the  maintenance,  operation  and  de- 
velopment of  the  roads  should,  during  the 
period  of  the  war,  be  wisely  related  to  the 
financial  operations  of  the  Government. 

Our  first  duty  is,  of  course,  to  conserve  the 
common  interest  and  the  common  safety,  and 
to  make  certain  that  nothing  stands  in  the  way 
of  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  great  war 
for  liberty  and  justice;  but  it  is  an  obligation 


148     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

of  public  conscience  and  of  public  honor  that 
the  private  interests  we  disturb  should  be  kept 
safe  from  unjust  injury,  and  it  is  of  the  utmost 
consequence  to  the  Government  itself  that  all 
great  financial  operations  should  be  stabilized 
and  co-ordinated  with  the  financial  operations 
of  the  Government.  No  borrowing  should  run 
athwart  the  borrowings  of  the  Federal  Treas- 
ury, and  no  fundamental  industrial  values 
should  anywhere  be  unnecessarily  impaired. 
In  the  hands  of  many  thousands  of  small  in- 
vestors in  the  country,  as  well  as  in  national 
banks,  in  insurance  companies,  in  savings 
banks,  in  trust  companies,  in  financial  agen- 
cies of  every  kind,  railway  securities — the  sum 
total  of  which  runs  up  to  some  ten  or  eleven 
thousand  millions,  constitute  a  vital  part  of  the 
structure  of  credit,  and  the  unquestioned 
solidity  of  that  structure  must  be  maintained. 

SELECTION    OF    MCADOO   AS   DIRECTOR 

The  Secretary  of  War  and  I  easily  agreed 
that,  in  view  of  the  many  complex  interests 
which  must  be  safeguarded  and  harmonized, 
as  well  as  because  of  his  exceptional  experience 
and  ability  in  this  new  field  of  governmental 
action,  the  Hon.  William  G.  McAdoo  was  the 
right  man  to  assume  direct  administrative  con- 
trol of  this  new  executive  task.  At  our  re- 
quest, he  consented  to  assume  the  authority 
and  duties  of  organizer  and  director-general  of 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     149 

the  new  railway  administration.  He  has  as- 
sumed those  duties,  and  his  work  is  in  active 
progress. 

It  is  probably  too  much  to  expect  that,  even 
under  the  unified  railway  administration  which 
will  now  be  possible,  sufficient  economies  can 
be  effected  in  the  operation  of  the  railways  to 
make  it  possible  to  add  to  their  equipment 
and  extend  their  operative  facilities  as  much 
as  the  present  extraordinary  demands  upon 
their  use  will  render  desirable,  without  resort- 
ing to  the  national  Treasury  for  the  funds.  If 
it  is  not  possible,  it  will,  of  course,  be  necessary 
to  resort  to  the  Congress  for  grants  of  money 
for  that  purpose.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
lu-y  will  advise  with  your  committees  with  re- 
gard to  this  very  practical  aspect  of  the  matter. 
For  the  present,  I  suggest  only  the  guarantees 
I  have  indicated  and  such  appropriations  as 
are  necessary  at  the  outset  of  this  task. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  expressing  the  hope  that 
the  Congress  may  grant  these  promptly  and 
tmgrudgingly.  We  are  dealing  with  great 
matters,  and  will,  I  am  sure,  deal  with  them 
greatly. 


XXI 

THE  TERMS  OF  PEACE 
{January  8,  igi8) 

In  an  address  to  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
assembled  in  joint  session,  President  Wilson 
enunciated  the  war  and  peace  program  of  the 
United  States  in  fourteen  definite  proposals. 
The  President  spoke  as  follows : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress, — Once 
more,  as  repeatedly  before,  the  spokesmen  of 
the  Central  Empires  have  indicated  their  de- 
sires to  discuss  the  objects  of  the  war  and  the 
possible  basis  of  a  general  peace.  Parleys  have 
been  in  progress  at  Brest-Litovsk  between  Rus- 
sian representatives  and  representatives  of  the 
Central  Powers  to  which  the  attention  of  all 
the  belligerents  has  been  invited  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ascertaining  whether  it  may  be  possible 
to  extend  these  parleys  into  a  general  confer- 
ence with  regard  to  terms  of  peace  and 
settlement. 

The  Russian  representatives  presented  not 
only  a  perfectly  definite  statement  of  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  they  would  be  willing  to 
conclude  peace,  but  also  an  equally  definite 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     151 

program  of  the  concrete  application  of  those 
principles.  The  representatives  of  the  Central 
Powers,  on  their  part,  presented  an  outline  of 
settlement  which,  if  much  less  definite,  seemed 
susceptible  of  liberal  interpretation  until  their 
specific  program  of  practical  terms  was  added. 
That  program  proposed  no  concessions  at  all, 
either  to  the  sovereignty  of  Russia  or  to  the 
preferences  of  the  population  with  whose  fort- 
unes it  dealt,  but  meant,  in  a  word,  that  the 
Central  Empires  were  to  keep  every  foot  of 
territory  their  armed  forces  had  occupied — 
every  province,  every  city,  every  point  of  van- 
tage— as  a  permanent  addition  to  their  terri- 
tories and  their  power.  It  is  a  reasonable 
conjecture  that  the  general  principles  of  settle- 
ment which  they  at  first  suggested  originated 
with  the  more  liberal  statesmen  of  Germany 
and  Austria,  the  men  who  have  begun  to  feel 
the  force  of  their  own  people's  thought  and 
purpose,  while  the  concrete  terms  of  actual 
settlement  came  from  the  military  leaders  who 
have  no  thought  but  to  keep  what  they  have 
got.  The  negotiations  have  been  broken  off. 
The  Russian  representatives  were  sincere  and 
in  earnest.  They  cannot  entertain  such  pro- 
posals of  conquest  and  domination. 

SIGNIFICANCE    IN   PARLEYS 

The  whole  incident  is  full  of  significance. 
It  is  also  full  of  perplexity.     With  whom  are 


152     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

the  Russian  representatives  dealing?  For 
whom  are  the  representatives  of  the  Central 
Empires  speaking?  Are  they  speaking  for  the 
majorities  of  their  respective  parliaments,  or  for 
the  minority  parties — that  military  and  im- 
perialistic minority  which  has  so  far  dominated 
their  whole  policy  and  controlled  the  affairs  of 
Turkey  and  the  Balkan  states,  which  have  felt 
obliged  to  become  their  associates  in  this  war? 
The  Russian  representatives  have  insisted, 
very  justly,  very  wisely,  and  in  the  true  spirit 
of  modern  democracy,  that  the  conferences 
they  have  been  holding  with  the  Teutonic  and 
Turkish  statesmen  should  be  held  within  open, 
not  closed,  doors,  and  all  the  world  has  been 
audience,  as  was  desired. 

To  whom  have  we  been  listening,  then? 
To  those  who  speak  the  spirit  and  intention  of 
the  resolution  of  the  German  Reichstag  of  the 
gth  of  July  last,  the  spirit  and  intention  of  the 
Liberal  leaders  and  parties  of  Germany,  or  to 
those  who  resist  and  defy  that  spirit  and  in- 
tention and  insist  upon  conquest  and  subjuga- 
tion? Or  are  we  listening,  in  fact,  to  both, 
unreconciled  and  in  open  and  hopeless  contra- 
diction? These  are  very  serious  and  pregnant 
questions.  Upon  the  answer  to  them  depends 
the  peace  of  the  world. 

But,  whatever  the  results  of  the  parleys  at 
Brest-Litovsk,  whatever  the  confusions  of 
coimsel  and  of  purpose  in  the  utterances  of  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     153 

spokesmen  of  the  Central  Empires,  they  have 
again  attempted  to  acquaint  the  world  with 
their  objects  in  the  war  and  have  again  chal- 
lenged their  adversaries  to  say  what  their  ob- 
jects are  and  what  sort  of  settlement  they 
would  deem  just  and  satisfactory.  There  is 
no  good  reason  why  that  challenge  should  not 
be  responded  to  and  responded  to  with  the 
utmost  candor.  We  did  not  wait  for  it.  Not 
once,  but  again  and  again,  we  have  laid  our 
whole  thought  and  purpose  before  the  world, 
not  in  general  terms  only,  but  each  time  with 
sufficient  definition  to  make  it  clear  what  sort  of 
definitive  terms  of  settlement  must  necessarily 
spring  out  of  them. 

LLOYD   GE0RGE*S  AIMS  APPROVED 

Within  the  last  week  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
has  spoken  with  admirable  candor  and  in  ad- 
mirable spirit  for  the  people  and  Government 
of  Great  Britain.  There  is  no  confusion  of 
counsel  among  the  adversaries  of  the  Central 
Powers,  no  uncertainty  of  principle,  no  vague- 
ness of  detail.  The  only  secrecy  of  counsel, 
the  only  lack  of  fearless  frankness,  the  only 
failure  to  make  definite  statement  of  the  ob- 
jects of  the  war  lies  with  Germany  and  her 
allies.  The  issues  of  life  and  death  hang  upon 
these  definitions.  No  statesman  who  has  the 
least  conception  of  his  responsibility  ought  for 
a  moment  to  permit  himself  to  continue  this 


154     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

tragical  and  appalling  outpouring  of  blood  and 
treasure  unless  he  is  sure  beyond  a  peradvent- 
ure  that  the  objects  of  the  vital  sacrifice  are 
part  and  parcel  of  the  very  life  of  society,  and 
that  the  people  for  whom  he  speaks  think  them 
right  and  imperative,  as  he  does. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  voice  calling  for  these 
definitions  of  principle  and  of  purpose  which  is, 
it  seems  to  me,  more  thrilling  and  more  com- 
pelling than  any  of  the  many  moving  voices 
with  which  the  troubled  air  of  the  world  is 
filled.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  Russian  people. 
They  are  prostrate  and  all  but  helpless,  it  would 
seem,  before  the  grim  power  of  Germany,  which 
has  hitherto  known  no  relenting  and  no  pity. 
Their  power  apparently  is  shattered.  And  yet 
their  soul  is  not  subservient.  They  will  not 
3rield  either  in  principle  or  in  action.  Their  con- 
ception of  what  is  right,  of  what  it  is  humane 
and  honorable  for  them  to  accept,  has  been 
stated  with  a  frankness,  a  largeness  of  view,  a 
generosity  of  spirit  and  a  universal  human 
sympathy  which  must  challenge  the  admira- 
tion of  every  friend  of  mankind ;  and  they  have 
refused  to  compound  their  ideals  or  desert 
others  that  they  themselves  may  be  safe. 

WOULD   LIKE   TO   AID   RUSSIA 

They  call  to  us  to  say  what  it  is  that  we 
desire — ^in  what,  if  in  anything,  our  purpose 
and  our  spirit  differ  from  theirs ;  and  I  believe 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     155 

that  the  people  of  the  United  States  would 
wish  me  to  respond  with  utter  simplicity  and 
frankness.  Whether  their  present  leaders  be- 
lieve it  or  not,  it  is  our  heartfelt  desire  and 
hope  that  some  way  may  be  opened  whereby 
we  may  be  privileged  to  assist  the  people  of 
Russia  to  attain  their  utmost  hope  of  liberty 
and  ordered  peace. 

It  will  be  our  wish  and  purpose  that  the 
processes  of  peace,  when  they  are  begun,  shall 
be  absolutely  open,  and  that  they  shall  involve 
and  permit  henceforth  no  secret  understand- 
ings of  any  kind.  The  day  of  conquest  and 
aggrandizement  is  gone  by;  so  is  also  the  day 
of  secret  covenants  entered  into  in  the  interest 
of  particular  governments  and  likely,  at  some 
unlooked-for  moment,  to  upset  the  peace  of 
the  world.  It  is  this  happy  fact,  now  clear 
to  the  view  of  every  public  man  whose 
thoughts  do  not  still  linger  in  an  age  that 
is  dead  and  gone,  which  makes  it  possible 
for  every  nation  whose  ptuposes  are  consist- 
ent with  justice  and  the  peace  of  the  world 
to  avow  now,  or  at  any  other  time,  the  objects 
it  has  in  view. 

We  entered  this  war  because  violations  of 
right  had  occurred  which  touched  us  to  the 
quick  and  made  the  life  of  our  own  people 
impossible  unless  they  were  corrected  and  the 
world  secured  once  for  aU  against  their  recur- 
rence.    What  we  demand  in  this  war,  there- 


iS6     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

fore,  is  nothing  peculiar  to  ourselves.  It  is 
that  the  world  be  made  fit  and  safe  to  live  in ; 
and  particularly  that  it  be  made  safe  for  every 
peace-loving  nation  which,  like  our  own,  wishes 
to  live  its  own  Hfe,  determine  its  own  institu- 
tions, be  assured  of  justice  and  fair  dealing  by 
the  other  peoples  of  the  world  as  against  force 
and  selfish  aggression.  All  the  peoples  of  the 
world  are  in  effect  partners  in  this  interest, 
and  for  our  own  part  we  see  very  clearly  that 
unless  justice  be  done  to  others  it  will  not  be 
done  to  us. 

THE   DEFINITE   PROGRAM 

The  program  of  the  world's  peace,  there- 
fore, is  our  program,  and  that  program,  the 
only  possible  program,  as  we  see  it,  is  this: 

I.  Open  covenants  of  peace,  openly  jar- 
rived  at,  after  which  there  shall  be  no  private 
international  understandings  of  any  kind,  but 
diplomacy  shall  proceed  always  frankly  and  in 
the  pubHc  view. 

II.  Absolute  freedom  of  navigation  upon 
the  seas,  outside  territorial  waters,  alike  in 
peace  and  in  war,  except  as  the  seas  may  be 
closed  in  whole  or  in  part  by  international 
action  for  the  enforcement  of  international 
covenants. 

III.  The  removal,  so  far  as  possible,  of 
all  economic  barriers  and  the  establishment  of 
an  equality  of  trade  conditions  among  all  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     157 

nations  consenting  to  the  peace  and  associating 
themselves  for  its  maintenance. 

IV.  Adequate  guarantees  given  and  taken 
that  national  armaments  will  be  reduced  to 
the  lowest  point  consistent  with  domestic 
safety. 

V.  A  free,  open-minded  and  absolutely 
impartial  adjustment  of  all  colonial  claims, 
based  upon  a  strict  observance  of  the  principle 
that  in  determining  all  such  questions  of  sov- 
ereignty the  interests  of  the  populations  con- 
cerned must  have  equal  weight  with  the  equi- 
table claims  of  the  Government  whose  title  is 
to  be  determined. 

VI.  The  evacuation  of  all  Russian  terri- 
tory and  such  a  settlement  of  all  questions 
affecting  Russia  as  will  secure  the  best  and 
freest  co-operation  of  the  other  nations  of  the 
world  in  obtaining  for  her  an  unhampered  and 
unembarrassed  opportunity  for  the  indepen- 
dent determination  of  her  own  political  devel- 
opment and  national  policy  and  assure  her  of 
a  sincere  welcome  into  the  society  of  free  na- 
tions under  institutions  of  her  own  choosing; 
and,  more  than  a  welcome,  assistance  also  of 
every  kind  that  she  may  need  and  may  herself 
desire.  The  treatment  accorded  Russia  by  her 
sister  nations  will  be  the  acid  test  of  their  good 
will,  of  their  comprehension  of  her  needs  as 
distinguished  from  their  own  interests  and  of 
their  intelligent  and  unselfish  sympathy. 


158     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

BELGIUM   MUST   BE   RESTORED 

VII.  Belgium,  the  whole  world  will  agree, 
must  be  evacuated  and  restored,  without  any 
attempt  to  limit  the  sovereignty  which  she  en- 
joys in  common  with  all  other  free  nations. 
No  other  single  act  will  serve  as  this  will  serve 
to  restore  confidence  among  the  nations  in  the 
laws  which  they  have  themselves  set  and  de- 
termined for  the  government  of  their  relations 
with  one  another.  Without  this  healing  act 
the  whole  structure  and  validity  of  interna- 
tional law  is  forever  impaired. 

VIII.  All  French  territory  should  be  freed 
and  the  invaded  portions  restored,  and  the 
wrong  done  to  France  by  Prussia  in  187 1  in 
the  matter  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  which  has  un- 
settled the  peace  of  the  world  for  nearly  fifty 
years,  should  be  righted,  in  order  that  peace 
may  once  more  be  made  secure  in  the  interest 
of  aU. 

IX.  A  readjustment  of  the  frontiers  of 
Italy  should  be  effected  along  clearly  recogniz- 
able lines  of  nationality. 

X.  The  peoples  of  Austria-Hungary,  whose 
place  among  the  nations  we  wish  to  see  safe- 
guarded and  assured,  should  be  accorded  the 
freest  opportunity  of  autonomous  development. 

XL  Rumania,  Serbia,  and  Montenegro 
should  be  evacuated;  occupied  territories  re- 
stored; Serbia  accorded  free  and  secure  access 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     159 

to  the  sea;  and  the  relations  of  the  several 
Balkan  states  to  one  another  determined  by 
friendly  counsel  along  historically  established 
Hnes  of  allegiance  and  nationality;  and  interna- 
tional guarantees  of  the  political  and  economic 
independence  and  territorial  integrity  of  the 
several  Balkan  states  should  be  entered  into. 

XII.  The  Turkish  portions  of  the  present 
Ottoman  Empire  should  be  assured  a  secure 
sovereignty,  but  the  other  nationalities  which 
are  now  under  Turkish  rule  should  be  assured 
an  undoubted  security  of  life  and  an  absolutely 
unmolested  opportunity  of  autonomous  devel- 
opment, and  the  Dardanelles  should  be  per- 
manently opened  as  a  free  passage  to  the  ships 
and  commerce  of  all  nations  under  international 
guarantees. 

INDEPENDENCE   FOR  POLAND 

XIII.  An  independent  Polish  state  should 
be  erected  which  should  include  the  territories 
inhabited  by  indisputably  Polish  populations, 
which  should  be  assured  a  freehand  secure  access 
to  the  sea,  and  whose  political  and  economic 
independence  and  territorial  integrity  should 
be  guaranteed  by  international  covenant. 

XIV.  A  general  association  of  nations 
must  be  formed  under  specific  covenants  for 
the  purpose  of  affording  mutual  guarantees  of 
political  independence  and  territorial  integrity 
to  great  and  small  states  aHke. 


i6o     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

In  regard  to  these  essential  rectifica- 
tions of  wrong  and  assertions  of  right,  we 
feel  otirselves  to  be  intimate  partners  of 
all  the  Governments  and  peoples  associated 
together  against  the  imperialists.  We  can- 
not be  separated  in  interest  or  divided  in 
purpose.  We  stand  together  until  the 
end. 

*'For  such  arrangements  and  covenants  we 
are  willing  to  fight,  and  to  continue  to  fight, 
until  they  are  achieved;  but  only  because  we 
wish  the  right  to  prevail  and  desire  a  just  and 
stable  peace,  such  as  can  be  secured  only  by 
removing  the  chief  provocations  to  war,  which 
this  program  does  remove.  We  have  no 
jealousy  of  German  greatness,  and  there  is 
nothing  in  this  program  that  impairs  it.  We 
grudge  her  no  achievement  or  distinction  of 
learning  or  of  pacific  enterprise,  such  as  have 
made  her  record  very  bright  and  very  envi- 
able. We  do  not  wish  to  injure  her  or  to  block 
in  any  way  her  legitimate  influence  or  power. 
We  do  not  wish  to  fight  her  either  with  arms 
or  with  hostile  arrangements  of  trade,  if  she  is 
willing  to  associate  herself  with  us  and  the 
other  peace-loving  nations  of  the  world  in  cove- 
nants of  justice  and  law  and  fair  dealing.  We 
wish  her  only  to  accept  a  place  of  equality 
among  the  peoples  of  the  world — the  new  world 
in  which  we  now  live — ^instead  of  a  place  of 
mastery. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     i6i 

Germany's  spokesmen  an  issue 

Neither  do  we  presume  to  suggest  to  her 
any  alteration  or  modification  of  her  institu- 
tions. But  it  is  necessary,  we  must  frankly 
say,  and  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  any  in- 
telligent dealings  with  her  on  our  part,  that  we 
should  know  whom  her  spokesmen  speak  for 
when  they  speak  to  us,  whether  for  the  Reichs- 
tag majority  or  for  the  military  party  and  the 
men  whose  creed  is  imperial  domination. 

We  have  spoken  now  surely  in  terms  too 
concrete  to  admit  of  any  further  doubt  or  ques- 
tion. An  evident  principle  runs  through  the 
whole  program  I  have  outlined.  It  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  justice  to  all  peoples  and  nationalities 
and  their  right  to  live  on  equal  terms  of  liberty 
and  safety  with  one  another,  whether  they  be 
strong  or  weak.  Unless  this  principle  be  made 
its  foundation,  no  part  of  the  structure  of  in- 
ternational justice  can  stand.  The  people  of 
the  United  States  could  act  upon  no  other 
principle,  and  to  the  vindication  of  this  prin- 
ciple they  are  ready  to  devote  their  lives,  their 
honor  and  everything  that  they  possess.  The 
moral  climax  of  this,  the  culminating  and  final 
war  for  human  liberty,  has  come,  and  they  are 
ready  to  put  their  own  strength,  their  own 
highest  purpose,  their  own  integrity  and  de- 
votion to  the  test. 


XXII 

FOUR  BASIC  PEACE   PRINCIPLES 
{Address  to  the  Congress,  February  ii,  1918) 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress, — On  the 
8th  of  January  I  had  the  honor  of  addressing 
you  on  the  objects  of  the  war  as  our  people 
conceive  them.  The  Prime  Minister  of  Great 
Britain  had  spoken  in  similar  terms  on  the  ist 
of  January.  To  these  addresses  the  German 
Chancellor  replied  on  the  24th,  and  Count 
Czernin  for  Austria  on  the  same  day.  It  is 
gratifying  to  have  our  desire  so  promptly 
realized  that  all  exchanges  of  views  on  this 
great  matter  should  be  made  in  the  hearing 
of  all  the  world. 

Count  Czernin's  reply,  which  is  directed 
chiefly  to  my  own  address  on  the  8th  of  Janu- 
ary, is  uttered  in  a  very  friendly  tone. 

He  finds  in  my  statement  a  sufficiently  en- 
couraging approach  to  the  views  of  his  own 
Government  to  justify  him  in  believing  that  it 
furnishes  a  basis  for  a  more  detailed  discussion 
of  purposes  by  the  two  Governments. 

He  is  represented  to  have  intimated  that  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     163 

views  he  was  expressing  had  been  communi- 
cated to  me  beforehand  and  that  I  was  aware 
of  them  at  the  time  he  was  uttering  them,  but 
in  this  I  am  sure  he  was  misunderstood.  I 
had  received  no  intimation  of  what  he  in- 
tended to  say.  There  was,  of  course,  no 
reason  why  he  should  communicate  privately 
with  me.  I  am  quite  content  to  be  one  of  the 
public  audience. 

HERTLING  VAGUE  AND  CONFUSING 

Count  von  Hertling^s  reply  is,  I  must  say, 
very  vague  and  very  confusing.  It  is  full  of 
equivocal  phrases  and  leads  it  is  not  clear 
where.  But  it  is  certainly  in  a  very  different 
tone  from  that  of  Count  Czemin,  and  appar- 
ently of  an  opposite  purpose. 

It  confirms,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  rather  than 
removes,  the  unfortunate  impression  made  by 
what  we  had  learned  of  the  conference  of 
Brest-Litovsk.  His  discussion  and  acceptance 
of  our  general  principles  lead  him  to  no  prac- 
tical conclusions. 

He  refuses  to  apply  them  to  the  substantive 
items  which  must  constitute  the  body  of  any 
final  settlement.  He  is  jealous  of  interna- 
tional action  and  of  international  counsel. 

He  accepts,  he  says,  the  principle  of  public 
diplomacy,  but  he  appears  to  insist  that  it  be 
confined,  at  any  rate  in  this  case,  to  general- 
ities and  that  the  several  particular  questions 


i64     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

of  territory  and  sovereignty,  the  several  ques- 
tions upon  whose  settlement  must  depend 
the  acceptance  of  peace  by  the  twenty-three 
states  now  engaged  in  the  war,  must  be  dis- 
cussed and  settled,  not  in  general  council,  but 
severally  by  the  nations  most  immediately 
concerned  by  interest  or  neighborhood. 

He  agrees  that  the  seas  should  be  free,  but 
looks  askance  at  any  limitation  to  that  freedom 
by  international  action  in  the  interest  of  the 
common  order. 

He  would  without  reserve  be  glad  to  see 
economic  barriers  removed  between  nation  and 
nation,  for  that  could  in  no  way  impede  the 
ambitions  of  the  military  party  with  whom  he 
seems  constrained  to  keep  on  terms.  Neither 
does  he  raise  objection  to  a  limitation  of 
armaments.  That  matter  will  be  settled  of 
itself,  he  thinks,  by  the  economic  conditions 
which  must  follow  the  war. 

But  the  German  colonies,  he  demands,  must 
be  returned  without  debate. 

He  will  discuss  with  no  one  but  the  repre- 
sentatives of  Russia  what  disposition  shall  be 
made  of  the  peoples  and  the  lands  of  the 
Baltic  provinces;  with  no  one  but  the  Govern- 
ment of  France  the  **  conditions  "  under  which 
French  territory  shall  be  evacuated ;  and  only 
with  Austria  what  shall  be  done  with  Poland. 

In  the  determination  of  all  questions  affect- 
ing the  Balkan  states  he  defers,  as  I  under- 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     165 

stand  him,  to  Austria  and  Turkey;  and  with 
regard  to  the  agreements  to  be  entered  into 
concerning  the  non-Turkish  peoples  of  the 
present  Ottoman  Empire,  to  the  Turkish  au- 
thorities themselves. 

After  a  settlement  all  around,  effected  in 
this  fashion,  by  individual  barter  and  con- 
cession, he  would  have  no  objection,  if  I 
correctly  interpret  his  statement,  to  a  league 
of  nations  which  would  undertake  to  hold  the 
new  balance  of  power  steady  against  external 
disturbance. 

GERMAN   METHOD  IS  IMPOSSIBLE 

It  must  be  evident  to  every  one  who  imder- 
stands  what  this  war  has  wrought  in  the 
opinion  and  temper  of  the  world  that  no 
general  peace,  no  peace  worth  the  infinite 
sacrifices  of  these  years  of  tragical  suffering, 
can  possibly  be  arrived  at  in  any  such  fashion. 
The  method  the  German  Chancellor  proposes 
is  the  method  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna.  We 
cannot  and  will  not  return  to  that. 

What  is  at  stake  now  is  the  peace  of  the 
world.  What  we  are  striving  for  is  a  new  in- 
ternational order  based  upon  broad  and  uni- 
versal principles  of  right  and  justice — no  mere 
peace  of  shreds  and  patches. 

Is  it  possible  that  Count  von  Hertling  does 
not  see  that;  does  not  grasp  it;  is,  in  fact, 
living  in  his  thought  in  a  world  dead  and  gone? 


i66     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

Has  he  utterly  forgotten  the  Reichstag 
resolutions  of  the  19th  of  July,  or  does  he  de- 
liberately ignore  them?  They  spoke  of  the 
conditions  of  a  general  peace,  not  of  national 
aggrandizement  or  of  arrangements  between 
state  and  state. 

The  peace  of  the  world  depends  upon  the 
just  settlement  of  each  of  the  several  problems 
to  which  I  adverted  in  my  recent  address  to 
the  Congress. 

I,  of  course,  do  not  mean  that  the  peace  of 
the  world  depends  upon  the  acceptance  of  any 
particular  set  of  suggestions  as  to  the  way  in 
which  those  problems  are  to  be  dealt  with. 

I  mean  only  that  those  problems  each  and 
all  affect  the  whole  world;  that  unless  they 
are  dealt  with  in  a  spirit  of  unselfish  and  un- 
biased justice,  with  a  view  to  the  wishes,  the 
natural  connections,  the  racial  aspirations,  the 
security  and  the  peace  of  mind  of  the  peoples 
involved,  no  permanent  peace  will  have  been 
attained. 

They  cannot  be  discussed  separately  or  in 
comers.  None  of  them  constitutes  a  private 
or  separate  interest  from  which  the  opinion  of 
the  world  may  be  shut  out.  Whatever  af- 
fects the  peace  affects  mankind,  and  nothing 
settled  by  military  force,  if  settled  wrong,  is 
settled  at  all.  It  will  presently  have  to  be 
reopened. 

Is  Count  von  Hertling  not  aware  that  he  is 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     167 

speaking  in  the  court  of  mankind,  that  all  the 
awakened  nations  of  the  world  now  sit  in 
judgment  on  what  every  public  man,  of  what- 
ever nation,  may  say  on  the  issues  of  a  con- 
flict which  has  spread  to  every  region  of  the 
world?  The  Reichstag  resolutions  of  July 
themselves  frankly  accepted  the  decisions  of 
that  court. 

There  shall  be  no  annexations,  no  contribu- 
tions, no  punitive  damages.  Peoples  are  not 
to  be  handed  about  from  one  sovereignty  to 
another  by  an  international  conference  or  an 
understanding  between  rivals  and  antagonists. 
National  aspirations  must  be  respected;  peo- 
ples may  now  be  dominated  and  governed 
only  by  their  own  consent. 

SELF-DETERMINATION    VITAL   ISSUE 

** Self-determination"  is  not  a  mere  phrase. 
It  is  an  imperative  principle  of  action,  which 
statesmen  will  henceforth  ignore  at  their  peril. 
We  cannot  have  general  peace  for  the  asking, 
or  by  the  mere  arrangements  of  a  peace  con- 
ference. It  cannot  be  pieced  together  out  of 
individual  understandings  between  powerful 
states.  All  the  parties  to  this  war  must  join 
in  the  settlement  of  every  issue  anywhere  in- 
volved in  it;  because  what  we  are  seeking  is 
a  peace  that  we  can  all  unite  to  guarantee  and 
maintain,  and  every  item  of  it  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  common  judgment  whether  it  be 


i68     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

right  and  fair,  an  act  of  justice,  rather  than  a 
bargain  between  sovereigns. 

The  United  States  has  no  desire  to  interfere 
in  European  affairs  or  to  act  as  arbiter  in 
European  territorial  disputes.  She  would  dis- 
dain to  take  advantage  of  any  internal  weak- 
ness or  disorder  to  impose  her  own  will  upon 
another  people. 

She  is  quite  ready  to  be  shown  that  the 
settlements  she  has  suggested  are  not  the  best 
or  the  most  enduring.  They  are  only  her  own 
provisional  sketch  of  principles  and  of  the 
way  in  which  they  should  be  applied.  But 
she  entered  this  war  because  she  was  made  a 
partner,  whether  she  wotild  or  not,  in  the  suf- 
ferings and  indignities  inflicted  by  the  military 
masters  of  Germany  against  the  peace  and 
security  of  mankind;  and  the  conditions  of 
peace  will  touch  her  as  nearly  as  they  will 
touch  any  other  nation  to  which  is  intrusted  a 
leading  part  in  the  maintenance  of  civilization. 

She  cannot  see  her  way  to  peace  until  the 
causes  of  this  war  are  removed,  its  renewal 
rendered,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  impossible. 

This  war  had  its  roots  in  the  disregard  of  the 
rights  of  small  nations  and  of  nationalities 
which  lacked  the  union  and  the  force  to  make 
good  their  claim  to  determine  their  own  alle- 
giances and  their  own  forms  of  political  Hfe. 
Covenants  must  now  be  entered  into  which 
will  render  such  things  impossible  for  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     169 

future;  and  those  covenants  must  be  backed 
by  the  united  force  of  all  the  nations  that  love 
justice  and  are  willing  to  maintain  it  at  any 
cost. 

If  territorial  settlements  and  the  political 
relations  of  great  populations  which  have  not 
the  organized  power  to  resist  are  to  be  de- 
termined by  the  contracts  of  the  powerful 
Governments  which  consider  themselves  most 
directly  affected,  as  Count  von  HertHng  pro- 
poses, why  may  not  economic  questions  also? 

peoples'  rights  vital  as  trade 

It  has  come  about  in  the  altered  world  in 
which  we  now  find  ourselves  that  justice  and 
the  rights  of  peoples  affect  the  whole  field 
of  international  dealing  as  much  as  access  to 
raw  materials  and  fair  and  equal  conditions 
of  trade. 

Count  von  Hertling  wants  the  essential  bases 
of  commercial  and  industrial  life  to  be  safe- 
guarded by  common  agreement  and  guarantee, 
but  he  cannot  expect  that  to  be  conceded  him 
if  the  other  matters  to  be  determined  by  the 
articles  of  peace  are  not  handled  in  the  same 
way  as  items  in  the  final  accounting. 

He  cannot  ask  the  benefit  of  common  agree- 
ment in  the  one  field  without  according  it  in  the 
other. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  he  sees  that 
separate   and   selfish   compacts   with   regard 


I70    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

to  trade  and  the  essential  materials  of  manu- 
facture would  afford  no  foundation  for  peace. 
Neither,  he  may  rest  assured,  will  separate  and 
selfish  compacts  with  regard  to  provinces  and 
peoples. 

Count  Czemin  seems  to  see  the  funda- 
mental elements  of  peace  with  clear  eyes  and 
does  not  seek  to  obscure  them.  He  sees  that 
an  independent  Poland,  made  up  of  all  the 
indisputably  Polish  peoples  who  lie  contiguous 
to  one  another,  is  a  matter  of  European  con- 
cern and  must  of  course  be  conceded;  that 
Belgium  must  be  evacuated  and  restored,  no 
matter  what  sacrifices  and  concessions  that 
may  involve;  and  that  national  aspirations 
must  be  satisfied,  even  within  his  own  empire, 
in  the  common  interest  of  Europe  and  man- 
kind. 

If  he  is  silent  about  questions  which  touch 
the  interest  and  purpose  of  his  allies  more 
nearly  than  they  touch  those  of  Austria  only, 
it  must,  of  course,  be  because  he  feels  con- 
strained, I  suppose,  to  defer  to  Germany  and 
Turkey  in  the  circumstances. 

Seeing  and  conceding  as  he  does  the  essen- 
tial principles  involved  and  the  necessity  of 
candidly  applying  them,  he  naturally  feels 
that  Austria  can  respond  to  the  purpose  of 
peace  as  expressed  by  the  United  States  with 
less  embarrassment  than  could  Germany.  He 
would  probably  have  gone  much  further  had 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     171 

it  not  been  for  the  embarrassments  of  Austria's 
alliances  and  of  her  dependence  upon  Ger- 
many. 

FOUR  PRINCIPLES   TO   BE  APPLIED 

After  all,  the  test  of  whether  it  is  possible 
for  either  Government  to  go  any  further  in  this 
comparison  of  views  is  simple  and  obvious. 
The  principles  to  be  applied  are  these: 

First — That  each  part  of  the  final  settlement 
must  be  based  upon  the  essential  justice  of 
that  particular  case  and  upon  such  adjust- 
ments as  are  most  likely  to  bring  a  peace  that 
will  be  permanent. 

Second — That  peoples  and  provinces  are  not 
to  be  bartered  about  from  sovereignty  to 
sovereignty  as  if  they  were  mere  chattels  and 
pawns  in  a  game,  even  the  great  game,  now 
forever  discredited,  of  the  balance  of  power; 
but  that 

Third — Every  territorial  settlement  involved 
in  this  war  must  be  made  in  the  interest  and 
for  the  benefit  of  the  populations  concerned, 
and  not  as  part  of  any  mere  adjustment  or 
compromise  of  claims  among  rival  states; 
and 

Fourth — That  all  well-defined  national  as- 
pirations shall  be  accorded  the  utmost  satis- 
faction that  can  be  accorded  them  without  in- 
troducing new  or  perpetuating  old  elements 
of  discord   and   antagonism   that   would   be 


172     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

likely  in  time  to  break  the  peace  of  Europe  and 
consequently  of  the  world. 

A  general  peace  erected  upon  such  founda- 
tions can  be  discussed.  Until  such  a  peace 
can  be  secured  we  have  no  choice  but  to  go  on. 

So  far  as  we  can  judge,  these  principles  that 
we  regard  as  fundamental  are  already  every- 
where accepted  as  imperative  except  among 
the  spokesmen  of  the  military  and  annexa- 
tionist party  in  Germany.  If  they  have  any- 
where else  been  rejected,  the  objectors  have 
not  been  sufficiently  numerous  or  influential  to 
make  their  voices  audible. 

The  tragical  circumstance  is  that  this  one 
party  in  Germany  is  apparently  willing  and 
able  to  send  millions  of  men  to  their  death  to 
prevent  what  all  the  world  now  sees  to  be  just. 

WILL  NOT  TURN  BACK  FROM  COURSE 

I  would  not  be  a  true  spokesman  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  if  I  did  not  say 
once  more  that  we  entered  this  war  upon  no 
small  occasion,  and  that  we  can  never  turn 
back  from  a  course  chosen  upon  principle. 
Our  resources  are  in  part  mobilized  now,  and 
we  shall  not  pause  until  they  are  mobilized  in 
their  entirety. 

Our  armies  are  rapidly  going  to  the  fighting 
front,  and  will  go  more  and  more  rapidly. 

Our  whole  strength  will  be  put  into  this 
war  of  emancipation — emancipation  from  the 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     173 

threat  and  attempted  mastery  of  selfish  groups 
of  autocratic  rulers — whatever  the  difficulties 
and  present  partial  delays. 

We  are  indomitable  in  our  power  of  in- 
dependent action  and  can  in  no  circumstances 
consent  to  live  in  a  world  governed  by  intrigue 
and  force.  We  believe  that  our  own  desire 
for  a  new  international  order  under  which 
reason  and  justice  and  the  common  interests 
of  mankind  shall  prevail  is  the  desire  of  en- 
lightened men  everyivhere. 

Without  that  new  order  the  world  will  be 
without  peace  and  human  life  will  lack  toler- 
able conditions  of  existence  and  development. 
Having  set  our  hand  to  the  task  of  achieving 
it,  we  shall  not  turn  back. 

I  hope  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to 
add  that  no  word  of  what  I  have  said  is  in- 
tended as  a  threat.  That  is  not  the  temper 
of  our  people. 

I  have  spoken  thus  only  that  the  whole 
world  may  know  the  true  spirit  of  America— 
that  men  everywhere  may  know  that  our 
passion  for  justice  and  for  self-government  is 
no  mere  passion  of  words,  but  a  passion  which, 
once  set  in  action,  must  be  satisfied. 

The  power  of  the  United  States  is  a  menace 
to  no  nation  or  people.  It  will  never  be  used 
in  aggression  or  for  the  aggrandizement  of  any 
selfish  interest  of  our  own.  It  springs  out  of 
freedom  and  is  for  the  service  of  freedom. 


XXIII 

"FORCE,  FORCE  TO  THE  UTMOST" 

(An  Address  Delivered  by  the  President  at  Baltimore  on  the 
Evening  of  April  6,  1918^  on  the  Opening  of  the  Third 
Liberty  Loan  Campaign) 

Fellow-citizens, — This  is  the  anniversary 
of  our  acceptance  of  Germany's  challenge  to 
fight  for  our  right  to  live  and  be  free,  and  for 
the  sacred  rights  of  free  men  everywhere. 
The  Nation  is  awake.  There  is  no  need  to 
call  to  it.  We  know  what  the  war  must  coct, 
our  utmost  sacrifice,  the  lives  of  our  fittest 
men  and,  if  need  be,  all  that  we  possess.  The 
loan  we  are  met  to  discuss  is  one  of  the  least 
parts  of  what  we  are  called  upon  to  give  and  to 
do,  though  in  itself  imperative.  The  people  1 
of  the  whole  country  are  alive  to  the  necessity  / 
of  it,  and  are  ready  to  lend  to  the  utmost,  even  j 
where  it  involves  a  sharp  skimping  and  daily 
sacrifice  to  lend^t^ofmeager  earnings.  They 
will  look  with  reprobation  and  contempt  jupon 
those  who  can  and  will  not,  upon  those  who 
demand  a  higher  rate  of  interest,  upon  those 
who  think  of  it  as  a  mere  commercial  transac- 
tion.    I  have  not  come,  therefor.e,  to  urge  the' 


>j 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     175 

loan.     I  have  come  only  to  give  you,  if  I  can, 
a  more  vivid  conception  of  what  it  is  for. 

THE     CAUSE     WE     ARE     FIGHTING     FOR     MORE 
SHARPLY  REVEALED  THAN  EVER 

The  reasons  for  this  great  war,  the  reason 
why  it  had  to  come,  the  need  to  fight  it 
through,  and  the  issues  that  hang  upon  its 
outcome,  are  more  clearly  disclosed  now  than 
ever  before.  It  is  easy  to  see  just  what  this 
particular  loan  means  because  the  cause  we 
are  fighting  for  stands  more  sharply  revealed 
than  at  any  previous  crisis  of  the  momentous 
struggle.  The  man  who  knows  least  can  now 
see  plainly  how  the  cause  of  justice  stands  and 
what  the  imperishable  thing  is  he  is  asked 
to  invest  in.  Men  in  America  may  be  more 
sure  than  they  ever  were  before  that  the 
cause  is  their  own,  and  that,  if  it  should  be 
lost,  their  own  great  nation's  place  and  mission 
in  the  world  would  be  lost  with  it. 

I  call  you  to  witness,  my  fellow-countrymen, 
that  at  no  stage  of  this  terrible  business  have 
I  judged  the  purposes  of  Germany  intem- 
perately.  I  should  be  ashamed  in  the  presence 
of  affairs  so  grave,  so  fraught  with  the  destinies 
of  mankind  throughout  all  the  world,  to  speak 
with  truculence,  to  use  the  weak  language  of 
hatred  or  vindictive  purpose.  We  must  judge 
as  we  would  be  judged.  I  have  sought  to  learn 
the  objects  Germany  has  in  this  war  from  the 


176    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

mouths  of  her  own  spokesmen,  and  to  deal  as 
frankly  with  them  as  I  wished  them  to  deal 
with  me.  I  have  laid  bare  our  own  ideals, 
our  own  purposes,  without  reserve  or  doubtful 
phrase,  and  have  asked  them  to  say  as  plainly 
what  it  is  that  they  seek. 

WE  HAVE  OURSELVES  PROPOSED  NO  INJUSTICE, 
NO   AGGRESSION 

We  have  ourselves  proposed  no  injustice, 
no  aggression.  We  are  ready,  whenever  the 
final  reckoning  is  made,  to  be  just  to  the 
German  people,  deal  fairly  with  the  German 
power,  as  with  all  others.  There  can  be  no 
difference  between  peoples  in  the  final  judg- 
ment, if  it  is  indeed  to  be  a  righteous  judg- 
ment. To  propose  anything  but  justice,  even- 
handed  and  dispassionate  justice,  to  Germany 
at  any  time,  whatever  the  outcome  of  the 
war,  would  be  to  renounce  and  dishonor  our 
own  cause.  For  we  ask  nothing  that  we  are 
not  willing  to  accord. 

It  has  been  with  this  thought  that  I  have 
sought  to  learn  from  those  who  spoke  for 
Germany  whether  it  was  justice  or  dominion 
and  the  execution  of  their  own  will  upon  the 
other  nations  of  the  world  that  the  German 
leaders  were  seeking.  They  have  answered, 
answered  in  unmistakable  terms.  They  have 
avowed  that  it  was  not  justice  but  dominion 
and  the  unhindered  execution  of  their  own  will. 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     177 

AVOWAL    OF    DOMINION    CAME    NOT    FROM 
STATESMEN   BUT  MILITARY   RULERS 

The  avowal  has  not  come  from  Germany's 
statesmen.  It  has  come  from  her  military 
leaders,  who  are  her  real  rulers.  Her  states- 
men have  said  that  they  wished  peace,  and 
were  ready  to  discuss  its  terms  whenever  their 
opponents  were  willing  to  sit  down  at  the 
conference  table  with  them.  Her  present 
Chancellor  has  said, — in  indefinite  and  uncer- 
tain terms,  indeed,  and  in  phrases  that  often 
seem,  to  deny  their  own  meaning,  but  with 
as  much  plainness  as  he  thought  prudent, — 
that  he  believed  that  peace  should  be  based 
upon  the  principles  which  we  had  declared 
would  be  our  own  in  the  final  settlement.  At 
Brest-Litovsk  her  civilian  delegates  spoke  in 
similar  terms;  professed  their  desire  to  con- 
clude a  fair  peace  and  accord  to  the  peoples 
with  whose  fortunes  they  were  dealing  the 
right  to  choose  their  own  allegiances.  But 
action  accompanied  and  followed  the  profes- 
sion. Their  military  masters,  the  men  who 
act  for  Germany  and  exhibit  her  purpose  in 
execution,  proclaimed  a  very  different  con- 
clusion. We  cannot  mistake  what  they  have 
done — ^in  Russia,  in  Finland,  in  the  Ukraine, 
in  Rumania.  The  real  test  of  their  justice  and 
fair  play  has  come.  From  this  we  may  judge 
the  rest.     They  are  enjoying  in  Russia  a  cheap 


178     IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

triumph  in  which  no  brave  or  gallant  nation 
can  long  take  pride.  A  great  people,  helpless 
by  their  own  act,  lies  for  the  time  at  their 
mercy.  Their  fair  professions  are  forgotten. 
They  nowhere  set  up  justice,  but  everywhere 
impose  their  power  and  exploit  everything 
for  their  own  use  and  aggrandizement;  and 
the  peoples  of  conquered  provinces  are  invited 
to  be  free  under  their  dominion! 

MIGHT  DO  THE  SAME  AT  WESTERN  FRONT  BUT 
FOR  ARMIES  THEY  CANNOT  OVERCOME 

Are  we  not  justified  in  believing  that  they 
would  do  the  same  things  at  their  western 
front  if  they  were  not  there  face  to  face  with 
armies  whom  even  their  countless  divisions 
cannot  overcome?  If,  when  they  have  felt 
their  check  to  be  final,  they  should  propose 
favorable  and  equitable  terms  with  regard  to 
Belgium  and  France  and  Italy,  could  they 
blame  us  if  we  concluded  that  they  did  so 
only  to  assure  themselves  of  a  free  hand  in 
Russia  and  the  East? 

Their  purpose  is  undoubtedly  to  make  all 
the  Slavic  peoples,  all  the  free  and  ambitious 
nations  of  the  Baltic  peninsula,  all  the  lands 
that  Turkey  has  dominated  and  misruled,  sub- 
ject to  their  will  and  ambition  and  build  upon 
that  dominion  an  empire  of  force  upon  which 
they  fancy  that  they  can  then  erect  an  empire 
of  gain  and  commercial  supremacy — an  empire 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     179 

as  hostile  to  the  Americas  as  to  the  Europe 
which  it  will  overawe — an  empire  which  will 
ultimately  master  Persia,  India,  and  the 
peoples  of  the  Far  East.  In  such  a  program 
our  ideals,  the  ideals  of  justice  and  humanity 
and  liberty,  the  principle  of  the  free  self- 
determination  of  nations  upon  which  all  the 
modem  world  insists,  can  play  no  part.  They 
are  rejected  for  the  ideals  of  power,  for  the 
principle  that  the  strong  must  rule  the  weak, 
that  trade  must  follow  the  flag,  whether  those 
to  whom  it  is  taken  welcome  it  or  not,  that 
the  peoples  of  the  world  are  to  be  made  subject 
to  the  patronage  and  overlordship  of  those 
who  have  the  power  to  enforce  it. 

That  program  once  carried  out,  America  and 
all  who  care  or  dare  to  stand  with  her  must 
arm  and  prepare  themselves  to  contest  the 
mastery  of  the  world,  a  mastery  in  which  the 
rights  of  common  men,  the  rights  of  women 
and  of  all  who  are  weak,  must  for  the  time 
being  be  trodden  underfoot  and  disregarded, 
and  the  old,  age-long  struggle  for  freedom 
and  right  begin  again  at  its  beginning.  Every- 
thing that  America  has  Hved  for  and  loved  and 
grown  great  to  vindicate  and  bring  to  a 
glorious  reaHzation  will  have  fallen  in  utter 
ruin  and  the  gates  of  mercy  once  more  piti- 
lessly shut  upon  mankind. 

The  thing  is  preposterous  and  impossible; 
and  yet  is  not  that  what  the  whole  course  and 


i8o    IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR 

action  of  the  German  armies  has  meant  wher- 
ever they  have  moved?  I  do  not  wish,  even  in 
this  moment  of  utter  disillusionment,  to  judge 
harshly  or  unrighteously.  I  judge  only  what 
the  German  arms  have  accomplished  with 
unpitying  thoroughness  throughout  every  fair 
region  they  have  touched. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  do?  For  myself,  I 
am  ready,  ready  still,  ready  even  now,  to  dis- 
cuss a  fair  and  just  and  honest  peace  at  any 
time  that  it  is  sincerely  purposed — a  peace  in 
which  the  strong  and  the  weak  shall  fare  aHke. 
But  the  answer,  when  I  proposed  such  a  peace, 
came  from  the  German  commanders  in  Rus- 
sia, and  I  cannot  mistake  the  meaning  of  the 
answer. 

HAS  ONCE  MORE  SAID  THAT  FORCE,  AND  FORCE 
ALONE,    SHALL  REIGN 

I  accept  the  challenge.  I  know  that  you 
accept  it  All  the  world  shall  know  that  you 
accept  it.  It  shall  appear  in  the  utter  sacri- 
fice  and  self-forgetfulness^^th  whidi  we~sEall 
giv£ffi3feM>we  fove  and  all  that  we  have,  to 
redeem  thej^Hd'iHdlhake  it  fit  for  free  men 
like  Ourselves  to  live  in.  This  now  is  the 
meaning  of^ITthat  we  do.  Let  everything 
that  we  say,  my  fellow-countrymen,  every- 
thing that  we  henceforth  plan  and  accomplish, 
ring  true  to  this  response  till  the  majesty 
and  might  of  our  concerted  power  shall  fill 


IN  OUR  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR     i8i 

the  thought  and  utterly  defeat  the  force  of 
those  who  flout  and  misprize  what  we  honor 
and  hold  dear.  Germany  has  once  more  said 
that  force,  and  force  alone,  shall  decide 
whether  justice  and  peace  shall  reign  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  whether  right  as  America 
conceives  it  or  dominion  as  she  conceives  it 
shall  determine  the  destinies  of  mankind. 
There  is,  therefore,  but  one  response  possible 
from  us:  force,  force  to  the  utmost,  force 
without  stint  or  limit,  the  righteous  and 
triumphant  force  which  shall  make  right  the 
law  of  the  world,  and  cast  every  selfish  domin- 
ion down  in  the  dust. 


APPENDIX 

STATE    DEPARTMENT'S    REVISED    LIST    OF 

NATIONS   AT   WAR   WHICH   HAVE 

BROKEN   RELATIONS 

DECLARATIONS   OF   WAR 

The  country  declaring  war  is  named  first. 
Austria — Belgium,  Aug.  28,  1914. 
Austria — ^Japan,  Aug.  27,  19 14. 
Austria — Montenegro,  Aug.  9,  1914. 
Austria — Russia,  Aug.  6,  19 14. 
Austria — Serbia,  July  28,  19 14. 
Brazil — Qermany,  Oct.  26,  1917. 
Bulgaria — Serbia,  Oct.  14,  1915. 
China — ^Austria,  Aug.  14,  191 7. 
China — Germany,  Aug.  14,  1917. 
Cuba — Germany,  April  7,  191 7. 
France — ^Austria,  Aug.  13,  19 14. 
France — Bulgaria,  Oct.  16,  1915. 
France — Germany,  Aug.  3,  19 14. 
France — ^Turkey,  Nov.  5,  1914. 
Germany — Belgiiun,  Aug.  4,  1914. 
Germany — France,  Aug.  3,  1914. 
Germany — ^Portugal,  March  9,  1916. 
Germany — ^Rumania,  Sept.  14,  1916. 
Germany — Russia,  Aug.  i,  1914. 
Great  Britain — ^Austria,  Aug.  13,  1914. 


APPENDIX  183 

Great  Britain — Bulgaria,  Oct.  15,  1915. 

Great  Britain — Germany,  Aug.  4,  1914. 

Great  Britain — Turkey,  Nov.  5,  1914. 

Greece — Bulgaria,  Nov.  28, 1916.  (Provisional  Govern- 
ment.) 

Greece — Bulgaria,  July  2,  191 7.  (Government  of  Alex- 
ander.) 

Greece — Germany,  Nov.  28,  1916.  (Provisional  Gov- 
ernment.) 

Greece — Germany,  July  2, 191 7.  (Government  of  Alex- 
ander.) 

Italy — ^Austria,  May  24,  1915. 

Italy — Bulgaria,  Oct.  19,  191 5. 

Italy — Germany,  Aug.  28,  1916. 

Italy — ^Turkey,  Aug.  21,  1915. 

Japan — Germany,  Aug.  28,  19 14. 

Liberia — Germany,  Aug.  4,  1917. 

Montenegro — ^Austria,  Aug.  8,  1914. 

Montenegro — Germany,  Aug.  9,  19 14. 

Panama — Germany,  April  7,  191 7. 

Panama — Austria,  Dec.  10,  191 7. 

Portugal — Germany,  Nov.  23, 19 14.  (Resolutions  passed 
authorizing  military  intervention  as  ally  of  England.) 

Portugal — Germany,  May  19,  191 5.  (Military  aid 
granted.) 

Rumania — Austria,  Aug.  27,  1916.  (Allies  of  Austria 
also  consider  it  a  declaration.) 

Russia — Bulgaria,  Oct.  19,  1915. 

Russia — Turkey,  Nov.  3,  19 14. 

San  Marino — ^Austria,  May  24,  1915. 

Serbia — Bulgaria,  Oct.  16,  1915. 

Serbia — Germany,  Aug.  6,  1914. 

Serbia — Turkey,  Dec.  2,  1914. 

Siam — Austria,  July  22,  191 7. 

Siam — Germany,  July  22,  191 7. 

Turkey — Allies,  Nov.  23,  19 14. 

Turkey — Rumania,  Aug.  29,  1916. 


i84  APPENDIX 

United  States — ^Austria-Hungary,  Dec.  7,  191 7. 
United  States — Germany,  April  6,  191 7. 


SEVERANCE  OF  DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS 

Austria — ^Japan,  Aug.  26,  1914. 

Austria — Portugal,  March  16,  19 16. 

Austria — Serbia,  July  26,  1914. 

Austria — United  States,  April  8,  1917. 

Bolivia — Germany,  April  14,  1917. 

Brazil — Germany,  April  11,  1917. 

China — Germany,  March  14,  191 7. 

Costa  Rica — Germany,  Sept.  21,  191 7, 

Ecuador — Germany,  Dec.  7,  191 7. 

Egypt— Germany,  Aug.  13,  1914. 

France — Austria,  Aug.  10,  1914. 

Greece — Turkey,  July  2,  191 7.     (Government  of  Alex- 
ander.) 

Greece — ^Austria,  July  2,  191 7.     (Government  of  Alex- 
ander.) 

Guatemala — Germany,  April  27,  191 7. 

Haiti — Germany,  June  17,  191 7. 

Honduras — Germany,  May  17,  191 7. 

Nicaragua — Germany,  May  18,  19 17. 

Peru— Germany,  Oct.  6,  191 7. 

Turkey — United  States,  April  20,  191 7. 

United  States — Germany,  Feb.  3,  1917. 

Uruguay — Germany,  Oct.  7,  191 7. 

— From  the  Official  Bulletin  of  the  Committee 
on  Public  Information, 

POPULATION  OF  THE  NATIONS 

Austria  (including  Hungary) 50,000,000 

Belgium 7,57i,387 

Bolivia 2,520,538 

Brazil 22,992,937 


APPENDIX  i8s 

Bulgaria 4,755,000 

China 413,000,000 

Costa  Rica 427,604 

Cuba 2,406,117 

Ecuador 1,500,000 

Egypt 12,170,000 

France 39,601,509 

Germany 66,715,000 

Great  Britain 40,834,790 

Greece 5,000,000 

Guatemala 2,092,824 

Haiti 2,030,000 

Honduras 592,675 

Italy 35,598,000 

Japan 53,696,358 

Liberia 2,060,000 

Montenegro 520,000 

Nicaragua 689,891 

Panama 386,891 

Peru 4,500,000 

Portugal 5,857,895 

Rumania 7,600,000 

Russia 175,137,000 

San  Marino 10,655 

Serbia 4,600,000 

Siam 6,000,000 

Turkey 21,274,000 

United  States 102,826,309 

Uruguay i,25S,9i4 


THE  END 


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